Nature, 4 September 2024

Farmed fur animals harbour viruses with zoonotic spillover potential

Animals such as raccoon dogs, mink and muskrats are farmed for fur and are sometimes used as food or medicinal products, yet they are also potential reservoirs of emerging pathogens.

Here we performed single-sample metatranscriptomic sequencing of internal tissues from 461 individual fur animals that were found dead due to disease. We characterized 125 virus species, including 36 that were novel and  39 at potentially high risk of cross-species transmission, including zoonotic spillover. Notably, we identified seven species of coronaviruses, expanding their known host range, and documented the cross-species transmission of a novel canine respiratory coronavirus to raccoon dogs and of bat HKU5 like coronaviruses to mink, present at a high abundance in lung tissues. Three subtypes of influenza A virus—H1N2, H5N6 and H6N2—were detected in the lungs of guinea pig, mink and muskrat, respectively.