A deadly squirrel virus has killed three breeders in Germany. Based on their death analysis, which was profiled in the New England Journal of Medicine, a previously unknown bornavirus had been found in the brain samples of the victims.
The new strain of the squirrel virus, which allegedly causes encephalitis or brain inflammation, has been contracted by the victims after they were bitten or scratched by the variegated squirrels. According to UPI, these breeds of exotic squirrels are native to southern Mexico and Central America that are sometimes kept as pets.
The bornavirus, a type usually found in horses, sheep, birds and rodents, has the potential to spread but has not shown to do so from human to human. And though the presence of the virus in the three men was confirmed, experts said the threat to other people remains low since additional infected humans and animals have yet to be found with it. Researchers are still unsure exactly how each of the men contracted the disease.
"It's likely that bornavirus, commonly found in horses and sheep and capable of causing neurological symptoms, was present in the squirrels that scratched these men, causing the neurological and behavioral symptoms," NYU Langone Medical Center professor Dr. Marc Siegel told HealthDay.
"It is possible that this virus could spread to squirrels here in the U.S. and occasionally to humans, but we wouldn't see sustained spread, as there is no evidence of spread from human to human," Dr. Siegel added.
Moreover, researchers are also uncertain how the animals became infected with the variegated squirrel 1 bornavirus (VSBV-1) or if it came from Central America with the rodents. As said by Martin Beer, head of virus diagnostics at the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute in Insel Riems, Germany, the study shows that exotic animal species can have the risk of transmitting novel zoonotic viruses to humans from close contact like the newfound deadly squirrel virus, Tech Times has learned.
Meanwhile, the victims, who were over the age of 60, each developed a case of encephalitis, which causes fever, chills, weakness, confusion and difficulty in walking. They died two to four months after being infected by the rodents between 2011 and 2013, after one was bitten and the other two were scratched by the squirrels.
Encephalitis is usually caused by a viral infection, but tests for the causes of the condition turned up negative, which led health workers to determine a previously undetected virus was to blame. However, the tests performed do not certainly show the VSBV-1 virus caused the deadly cases of encephalitis.
In line with the deadly squirrel virus, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control warned people not to feed or get close to squirrels in February after the potential connection was made while further studies were conducted henceforth, Daily Mail reported.
