Scientists reveal potential of swine coronavirus jumping from animals to people
Washington: A strain of coronavirus which causes acute diarrhea in piglets may have the potential to spread to humans as well, according to a new study which says the virus could "negatively impact the global economy and human health."
According to the researchers, including those from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in the US, the coronavirus strain, known as swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), emerged from bats and has infected herds of pigs throughout China since it was first discovered in 2016.
They said outbreaks of such an illness have the potential to wreak economic havoc in many countries across the globe that rely on the pork industry.
In the new study, published in the journal PNAS, the scientists conducted lab tests to assess the potential threat from SADS-CoV to people and found that the virus efficiently replicates in human liver and gut cells, as well as airway cells.
"Efficient growth in primary human lung and intestinal cells implicate SADS-CoV as a potential higher-risk emerging coronavirus pathogen that could negatively impact the global economy and human health," the scientists wrote in the study.
Though it is in the same family of viruses as the betacoronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19 in humans, the scientists said SADS-CoV is an alphacoronavirus that causes gastrointestinal illness in swine.
They said the virus causes severe diarrhea and vomiting and has been especially deadly to young piglets.
SADS-COV is also distinct from two circulating common cold alphacoronaviruses in humans, HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63, they added.
"While many investigators focus on the emergent potential of the betacoronaviruses like SARS and MERS, actually the alphacoronaviruses may prove equally prominent -- if not greater -- concerns to human health, given their potential to rapidly jump between species," said study co-author Ralph Baric, a professor of epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill.
While SADS-CoV has not been known to affect humans to-date, the researchers said coronavirus strains found in animals have the potential to infect humans as well -- an effect known as spillover.
According to the scientists, a wide range of mammalian cells, including primary human lung and intestinal cells, are susceptible to SADS-CoV infection, with the virus showing a higher rate of growth in intestinal cells found in the human gut, unlike the novel coronavirus which primarily infects lung cells.
While studies have suggested that cross-protective immunity often prevents people from contracting many coronaviruses found in animals, the researchers believe humans have not yet developed such a defence to SADS-CoV.
"SADS-CoV is derived from bat coronaviruses called HKU2, which is a heterogeneous group of viruses with a worldwide distribution," said Caitlin Edwards, another co-author of the study.
It is impossible to predict if this virus, or a closely related HKU2 bat strain, could emerge and infect human populations," Edwards said.
However, given the broad host range of SADS-CoV, coupled with its ability to replicate in primary human lung and gut cells, the researchers believe the virus demonstrates "potential risk for future emergence events in human and animal populations."
Edwards and her colleagues tested the broad-spectrum antiviral remdesivir as a potential method of treatment for the infection, and the preliminary results showed that it had robust activity against SADS-CoV.
However, the scientists cautioned that more testing is necessary on additional cell types, and in animals to confirm these findings.
"Promising data with remdesivir provides a potential treatment option in the case of a human spillover event," Edwards said.
"We recommend that both swine workers and the swine population be continually monitored for indications of SADS-CoV infections to prevent outbreaks and massive economic losses," she added.
While surveillance and early separation of infected piglets provide an opportunity to mitigate larger outbreaks and the potential for spillover into humans, Baric said vaccines may be key for limiting the global spread and human emergence events in the future.
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Media dinner shooting suspect wrote about targeting of administration officials, Trump says
Washington (AP): The man accused of trying to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner with guns and knives had written about targeting Trump administration officials, and his family raised concerns with law enforcement before the event, President Donald Trump said Sunday in an interview on Fox News Channel.
The accused gunman's family had alerted police in Connecticut, Trump said, revealing new details about a chaotic encounter that disrupted one of Washington's glitziest annual events the night before.
The suspect, identified by law enforcement officials as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, was expected to face criminal charges on Monday from the Justice Department, whose acting leader, Todd Blanche, said the suspect travelled by train from California and checked in as a guest days earlier at the Washington hotel where the Saturday night gala dinner was held with its typically tight security.
Law enforcement officials who have interviewed Allen's relatives, examined the gunman's electronic devices and his writings preliminarily believe he intended to target administration members in attendance at the dinner.
He attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a violent scene that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
“It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche told NBC's “Meet the Press.”
The suspect is believed to have purchased the two firearms he carried within the last couple of years, Blanche said. He is not being cooperative and is expected to face multiple charges on Monday.
Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said. The gunman was taken into custody and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
“He failed,” Blanche said on CBS's “Face the Nation.” “Law enforcement did their jobs.”
Authorities believe the suspect fired the shot that hit the Secret Service officer, who is expected to make a full recovery, Blanche said.
“He's going to be great, he's going to be fine, and thank God he was wearing a bulletproof vest,” Blanche said Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”
Social media posts that appear to match the suspect show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.
A May 2025 profile photo of Allen appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by Trump.
The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Allen earned a bachelor's degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.
The shooting at the security barricades happened minutes after the event got underway.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the room as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. Gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests realised something was happening. Hundreds of journalists immediately got on phones to call in information.
“Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as the president was escorted offstage. Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.
After an initial attempt to resume the event, it was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled.
Trump was unusually conciliatory after what he saw as a third attempt on his life in less than two years. He suggested that his personal politics had made him a repeated target, but he also called for unity and bipartisan healing in an increasingly violent world.
“It's always shocking when something like this happens. Happened to me, a little bit. And that never changes,” Trump told reporters in a hastily organised news conference at the White House late Saturday.
