Worm-like creatures from a remote Bornean rainforest could be opening doors to a 'rogues' gallery' of viral discoveries.
Leeches hunt down trove of pathogens in preliminary study, adding to knowledge of virus "zoo" in "understudied wildlife";
First study using leeches to find unknown viruses, scientists claim;
Discoveries may include new coronavirus genus; more work is needed;
Sambar deer, popular as bushmeat and trophies, may be coronavirus host;
All mammal hosts isolated by study are eaten as Asian bushmeat;
Study trekked as far afield as Bornean, Serengeti and Mongolian wildernesses;
Coronavirus related to common cold was found in sambar before; exotic deer may be vulnerable to coronavirus in cattle/local wildlife - peer-review;
"Tens of thousands of unknown coronaviruses" could be living in wildlife, but few can infect humans; and
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With a little help from leeches, scientists may have found a coronavirus they don't know.
A small army of blood-sucking leeches from Malaysian Borneo have hunted down a trove of novel pathogens, a preliminary scientific paper...
