AUTHOR=Begeman Lineke , van Riel Debby , Koopmans Marion P. G. , Kuiken Thijs 

TITLE=The pathogenesis of zoonotic viral infections: Lessons learned by studying reservoir hosts

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1151524

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1151524

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Zoonotic viral infections that cause severe disease or even death in some people may be asymptomatic or mild in reservoir hosts. Comparison of the pathogenesis between these two host categories may potentially explain the difference in disease. However, the infections in reservoir hosts are often neglected. Therefore, we compared the pathogenesis of infections with rabies, macacine alpha herpes-, West Nile, Puumala orthohanta-, monkeypox, Lassa, H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza, Marburg, Nipah, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and simian/human immunodeficiency viruses in both humans and reservoir hosts. We showed that most aspects of the pathogeneses were remarkably similar. Remaining differences lead to identification of tipping points in the pathogeneses that are important for explaining the disease outcome in severe human cases. Further elucidating these tipping points, by studying zoonotic virus infections in their reservoir hosts, may teach us how to reduce the severity of zoonotic viral diseases in humans.