Tracking coronavirus in animals takes on new urgency

They’re investigating whether animals infected with the coronavirus might become reservoirs for the evolution of new variants that might jump back into humans — an issue with huge implications for both human and animal health.In year three of the pandemic, scientists have confirmed that the virus believed to have first spilled over to humans from bats or possibly pangolins has already spread to at least 20 other animal species, including big cats, ferrets, North American white-tailed deer and great apes. But those cases are spurring concern.The search for infected animals in Texas — led by Texas A&M University in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — is part of a scattered but growing global effort to monitor pets, livestock and wildlife for new, potentially more dangerous coronavirus variants and stop them from wreaking havoc on humans.The World Health Organization warned in March that animal reservoirs could lead to “potential acceleration of virus evolution” and new variants. But another more daunting possibility is that the virus is finding hosts among the more than 1 million animal species, many still not catalogued, that inhabit Earth.“It’s a scary thing.” Bjorkman, who has been working on a universal coronavirus vaccine, said there has long been viral transmission between humans and animals that nobody pays attention to.The problem is that “every once in a while, there is transmission that catches on” and will explode if it spills into the human population, she said.Scientists believe most major outbreaks of disease serious enough to be deemed epidemics or pandemics have begun with animals.H5N1, a highly pathogenic flu that occurs in wild birds, sent fear through the medical community after a young boy died of it in Hong Kong in May 1997. None of those three events is believed to have introduced dangerous variants.In its monthly situation report in late April, the World Organization for Animal Health said that although the main driver of international viral spread is still human-to-human transmission, animal cases “continue to rise.” The big question is not whether certain animals can be infected, researchers say. When Poon checked the global databank that scientists are using to track the evolution of the virus, he was surprised to find that some of the genetic mutations in the young woman’s sample appeared to be novel and had never been documented in any other human sample.As he delved into the case report, Poon noticed the woman worked at a pet shop, and that’s when it hit him: Could she have gotten covid from an animal?A flurry of hurried phone calls and emails followed, and Hong Kong authorities locked down the store, Little Boss in the shopping district of Causeway Bay, and a related warehouse, swabbing the nearly 200 animals they found.The rabbits, chinchillas and guinea pigs were cleared.