Deadly New Virus Jumped From Squirrels to People

Well....this sounds awesome! Why the hell are people breeding squirrels anyways? They are rodents and there are enough of them around without breeding them already.

Anywho....a nice new virus that is likely travelling to an area near you. Can't wait to see how this one takes off and expands quickly through the world.

Source

Squirrel breeding is a real job—and apparently a very dangerous one if you're dealing with the wrong kind of squirrel. After the mysterious deaths of three German men who all worked as breeders of variegated squirrels—a kind of squirrel native to Central America that's sometimes kept as an exotic pet—researchers have identified a new virus that had apparently jumped from the squirrels to the men, LiveScience reports. The men, who were in their 60s and regularly socialized together, died between 2011 and 2013 from inflammation of the brain, and researchers say at least two of them had been scratched or bitten by the squirrels. They died a few months after showing symptoms, including fever and weakness.

The virus found in the men is a new bornavirus, a kind of virus often found in horses and sheep, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control suggests avoiding direct contact with variegated squirrels—which should be pretty easy for most people—and a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center tells HealthDay that there's no need to fear a major squirrel-borne outbreak. "It is possible that this virus could spread to squirrels here in the US and occasionally to humans, but we wouldn't see sustained spread, as there is no evidence of spread from human to human," he says.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Two of them were scratched or bitten, so there is simple vector. The three who died socialized together, well the third guy wasn't scratched or bitten, so a human to human vector maybe? But the experts say there is no evidence of human to human. i don't think there's any need to worry over this, except for maybe the blatant ignoring of that H2H vector.

Cheers - Dave

Its the next stage of the squirrel take over of the world. They have spend decades cooking up this bio warfare weapon

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

Your thoughts make sense to me....

Yeah , Respectfully OP it doesn't seem like a huge deal right now .

Something to keep an eye in though .

Thanks for the post .

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Well, there goes my hobby. Run free, little buddies, run free.

A woman I know hand feeds squirrels regularly (and feeds raccoons, possums, and whatever else wanders by).

originally posted by: Kapusta
Yeah , Respectfully OP it doesn't seem like a huge deal right now .

Something to keep an eye in though .

Thanks for the post .

Yeah....I don't think it seems like a big deal right now either. My issue is that there is no telling how many of these "pet squirrels" they have put out into the world that have this disease. So, you take a squirrel with a disease that is deadly to humans, you breed them and sell them to people to keep as pets, those people unknowingly buy them and one day soon their kid is feeding the pet squirrel and gets nipped on the finger.....dead.

Just wondering how many are out there and if any got loose they could easily infect the rest of the squirrel population. What would be bad is if they developed rabies like symptoms and went crazy, attacking humans and transferring the disease.

Anywho....enough of my conspiracy hat for today.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Lol I hear you .

What's the status of the infection now and Was it just these isolated cases ?

Forgive me I haven't had a chance to read the link.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

As a quick note - is there a way to prove these men actually contracted the virus from the squirrels? I noticed it is usually found in horse and sheep - both are animals whose meat is used in some German dishes. (Yes they eat horse and sheep in some parts of Germany).

Just chiming in my two cents. However, I think of all the possible 'real bad day' scenarios, a viral outbreak is the absolute most realistic.

originally posted by: Kapusta
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Lol I hear you .

What's the status of the infection now and Was it just these isolated cases ?

Forgive me I haven't had a chance to read the link.

No idea...just reported today that I could find.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Whelp, keep us posted if you hear more yeah.

Ty Vasa

You only think it's easy to avoid contact with squirrels.



Seriously though. On the campus where I went to college, they used to make a game out of pelting students walking to class with nuts every fall. It's not like you can avoid them if they decide they want to contact you.

My question is, if the third fellow did not get scratched or bitten, how are they discounting person to person transmission?

" What would be bad is if they developed rabies like symptoms and went crazy, attacking humans and transferring the disease."


That part made me instantly think of Resident Evil (Squirrels)! Sorry, but I thought it funny at least... LOL!! ...

a reply to: Daavin

I actually agree with that statement and had thought the same thing...

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Lol time to stop feeding the squirrel

But look at those rat like but cute eyes

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Um... is this a good time for me to stop feeding peanuts to squirrels? Dammit... I actually kind of like the little buggers.

a reply to: SonOfThor
I just read a news article that I saw when I went to Google what the heck a variegated squirrel is and the article stated that analysis of the squirrels' brains as well as that of the humans showed presence of the virus.

The article also states one of the victims was bitten and the other two were scratched. Here is a link to the article.
www.techtimes.com...