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scientist had question how a mosquito - spread computer virus that cause the lethal brain - swell disease Eastern equine encephalitis ( EEE ) — the one responsible for two deaths in Vermont this month — come through in eastern North America during the wintertime . Now , they think they know the computer virus ’s keeper : snakes .
former piece of work has implicated these reptiles , and the most late study has found not only antibodies against the virus , but also genetic textile from the computer virus itself in two coinage ofvenomous snakesliving in Alabama .
A new study found many snakes, primarily cottonmouths like the cottonmouth moccasin (shown here), carry a deadly brain-swelling virus that has caused 2 deaths in Vermont. [More Snake] Images]
" This newspaper is the terminal nail in the coffin that indicates that snakes are involve in this whole process , " said Thomas Unnasch , a prof and chair of the University of South Florida ’s global health section .
Snake appear to be the wintertime counterpart to birds , which catch the virusfrom mosquitoesand horde it through the summertime .
Mosquitoes can also diffuse the virus to world with rare , but potentially devastating import . About six human cases of the disease the virus causes are reported in the United States every year . EEE make a brain inflammation and can kill its victim or leave them with severe brain damage , according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The disease also affects other animals , peculiarly horses . [ 10 Deadly Diseases That hop Across Species ]
Scientists found the brain-swelling virus in venomous snakes at a study site at Tuskegee National Forest in Alabama.
Unnasch and fellow worker fit the rip of snakes get in Alabama ’s Tuskegee National Forest for antibody against the computer virus and also for the genetic computer code of the virus .
Antibodies , proteins the resistant system produce as part of its defense against an encroacher , are grounds the snakes have been exposed to the virus . Meanwhile , the mien of the virus itself signify thesnakes have an infection .
Of the 73 snakes from eight species tested over three class , about 15 percent had EEE contagion and about twice as many had antibody . Most of these werecottonmouth snakes , by far the most abundant snake in the country , with a few copperheads , both of which are vicious . ( Only one copperhead was positive for the computer virus , though others showed EEE antibodies . )
These consequence indicate that a relatively high dimension of wild ophidian are infected with the computer virus and maintain it in their lineage at the study website and most probable elsewhere , he enounce .
The squad collected pedigree from the Hydra from April through September , 2007 through 2009 . Among 54 cottonmouths sampled , the contagion rate top out in April , just as the snakes were emerging fromhibernation .
The virus does n’t come along to come down the Hydra , Unnasch pronounce , add , " They do n’t seem to have an efficacious immune response ; the antibodies they produce do n’t seem to deactivate the computer virus . "
This work to the virus ’s advantage . experimentation in Unnasch ’s laboratory indicated the snakes could harbor the computer virus in their blood for longer periods than birds , the virus ’s summertime host . When they induced the snakes to hibernate , Unnasch and colleagues found the virus persisted in the ophidian ' blood at crushed level throughout hibernation . They suspect this go on because the Hydra ' metabolism and immune system slowed and so the snake in the grass were n’t capable to free themselves of the viral particles .
enquiry so far suggests mosquitoes may be pick up the virus from snakes early in the twelvemonth , as soon as the hibernating snakes first leave their dens to bask . From there , the mosquitoes conduct it to birds , Unnasch said .
This entropy points to a in effect way to oppose the spread of the disease , he said .
Currently , cause to fight the virus involve attempt to carry off mosquito once infections have already begun evince up among animate being , particularly sawhorse , much afterwards in the season . But at this point , the virus is typically widespread among summer mosquito population .
or else , it would may make more sense to put on much smaller , more point insecticide treatmentsagainst those species of mosquitoesthat emerge early on in the year to feed upon the snakes , he said .
The study was published online today ( Oct. 1 ) in the daybook American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene .
