The threat of a new pandemic due to the transmission of viruses from animals to humans is very real.
To mitigate this risk, an international team of scientists has ventured into a heavily deforested tropical area to monitor species identified as virus reservoirs, aiming to understand how pathogens circulate and interact with their environment.
According to some estimates by scientists, there are approximately 500,000 to 800,000 animal-origin viruses capable of infecting humans. (Photo: AFP).
As night falls in a forest in Yucatan (Southeast Mexico), veterinarian Omar Garcia collects bat fluid under the light of a headlamp.
This task is part of a Franco-Mexican scientific research program on pathogens transmitted from animals to humans (viruses, bacteria, and parasites) that have caused several outbreaks in tropical regions in recent decades, such as Ebola.
Trapped in the net, this bat remains motionless in the veterinarian’s hands; it is a species considered a virus reservoir.
“Yucatan is an area emblematic of the emerging risks of zoonotic diseases“, explains Benjamin Roche, a researcher and Director at the Institute for Research and Development (IRD).
The goal of this mission is to understand how pathogens circulating among birds, rodents, and mosquitoes may affect humans and to predict where the next pandemic might emerge.
Each morning, field researchers will set traps to catch birds and bats, then they will test blood or collect other fluids for analysis.
Scientist Rosa Elena Sarmiento from the Virus Laboratory at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Unam) reveals: “Among bird species, we have identified those that are reservoirs of the West Nile virus.”
This is an arbovirus primarily transmitted by mosquitoes that can cause neurological damage in humans.
In the later stages, the research team will consider taking blood samples from local residents to determine if they are infected with any animal-origin viruses present in the area.
Earlier, between late December 2022 and early January this year, approximately 1.7 million poultry infected with disease were culled in Yucatan, Mexico.
