Arya News - Two to three new viruses capable of infecting humans have been discovered every year, a major new study from three universities has found.
Two to three new viruses capable of infecting humans have been discovered every year, a major new study from three universities has found.
The study, which analysed historical medical papers over the last 100 years, found that at least 239 species of human-infecting viruses have been found since the turn of the 20th century.
Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, said: “New human-infective viruses are being discovered all the time. Any one of them could be Disease X – the cause of the next pandemic.
“Our database will help researchers characterise the threat and prepare for it.”
The pace of discovery has accelerated significantly in recent years as technology and science improve, including the identification of dangerous pathogens like new mutations of bird flu , Zika virus, and Covid-19.
More than 20 new viruses have been found since the researchers last compiled data on new virus discoveries in 2018, largely due to a huge leap in genetic sequencing technology and increased global surveillance following the pandemic.
But while new pathogens have been emerging globally for thousands of years, it was only in 1901 that the first virus capable of infecting humans was formally identified by scientists, after US military researchers isolated DNA from Yellow Fever, the mosquito-borne disease spread to humans from mosquitoes.
At least 90 per cent of human viruses are also found in and can infect animals, which are the main source of new diseases , researchers from the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Peking found in their meta-review.
Only a small number of viruses – 60 out of the 239 – are capable of sustained human-to-human transmission, with the rest being ‘zoonotic’, meaning they spread directly from an animal to a person and do not transmit any further.
Examples of zoonotic viruses, which can be spread by animals or insects like mosquitoes and biting flies, include rabies and dengue fever.
Most new viruses – at least 99 – were first identified in the Americas, including hantavirus, the disease responsible for the recent outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship , Western Equine Encephalitis, and West Nile virus.
Another 81 were first found in Europe, 43 in Africa and the Middle East, and 16 from Oceania. However, experts believe the geographic spread of discoveries has more to do with the scientific resources available on each continent than the actual burden of diseases around the world.
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