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Review
. 2024 Sep 10;16(9):1441.
doi: 10.3390/v16091441.

Viruses Identified in Shrews (Soricidae) and Their Biomedical Significance

Huan-Yu Gong  1 , Rui-Xu Chen  1 , Su-Mei Tan  1 , Xiu Wang  1 , Ji-Ming Chen  1 , Yuan-Long Zhang  2 , Ming Liao  3
Affiliations
Review

Viruses Identified in Shrews (Soricidae) and Their Biomedical Significance

Huan-Yu Gong et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Shrews (Soricidae) are common small wild mammals. Some species of shrews, such as Asian house shrews (Suncus murinus), have a significant overlap in their habitats with humans and domestic animals. Currently, over 190 species of viruses in 32 families, including Adenoviridae, Arenaviridae, Arteriviridae, Astroviridae, Anelloviridae, Bornaviridae, Caliciviridae, Chuviridae, Coronaviridae, Filoviridae, Flaviviridae, Hantaviridae, Hepadnaviridae, Hepeviridae, Nairoviridae, Nodaviridae, Orthoherpesviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Parvoviridae, Phenuiviridae, Picobirnaviridae, Picornaviridae, Polyomaviridae, Poxviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Sedoreoviridae, Spinareoviridae, and three unclassified families, have been identified in shrews. Diverse shrew viruses, such as Borna disease virus 1, Langya virus, and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus, cause diseases in humans and/or domestic animals, posing significant threats to public health and animal health. This review compiled fundamental information about shrews and provided a comprehensive summary of the viruses that have been detected in shrews, with the aim of facilitating a deep understanding of shrews and the diversity, epidemiology, and risks of their viruses.

Keywords: diversity; epidemiology; public health; risk; shrew; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The numbers of virus species in 32 virus families identified in shrews.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Numbers of virus species that have been identified in certain shrew genera and shrew species. The blue, purple, and green colors represent genera or species in the shrew subfamilies of Crocidurinae, Soricinae, and Myosoricinae, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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