Another possible monkey virus spillover threat for humans

An obscure family of viruses, already endemic in wild African primates and known to cause fatal Ebola-like symptoms in some monkeys, is "poised for spillover" to humans, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research published in the journal Cell.

While such arteriviruses are already considered a critical threat to macaque monkeys, no human infections have been reported to date. And it is uncertain what impact the virus would have on people should it jump species. But the authors, evoking parallels to HIV (the precursor of which originated in African monkeys), are calling for vigilance nonetheless:

For the latest study, the researchers zeroed in on arteriviruses, which are common among pigs and horses but understudied among nonhuman primates. They looked specifically at simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV), which causes a lethal disease similar to Ebola virus disease and has caused deadly outbreaks in captive macaque colonies dating back to the 1960s.

The study demonstrates that a molecule, or receptor, called CD163, plays a key role in the biology of simian arteriviruses, enabling the virus to invade and cause infection of target cells. Through a series of laboratory experiments, the researchers discovered, to their surprise, that the virus was also remarkably adept at latching on to the human version of CD163, getting inside human cells and swiftly making copies of itself.

Like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its precursor simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), simian arteriviruses also appear to attack immune cells, disabling key defense mechanisms and taking hold in the body long-term. The authors stress that another pandemic is not imminent, and the public need not be alarmed.

A broad range of African monkeys already carries high viral loads of diverse arteriviruses, often without symptoms, and some species interact frequently with humans and are known to bite and scratch people.

Reference:

Cody Warren et al,Primate hemorrhagic fever-causing arteriviruses are poised for spillover to humans,Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.09.022