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Gamma retrovirus in other rodents, both pets (hamsters etc.) and wild? Fleas?
Is there any reason why the XMRV gamma retrovirus couldn't be in other rodents? Such as pet hamsters, gerbils, or gunea pigs? Or rats, pet or wild? It seems to me if XMRV hopped into humans, which is a big hop from rodent to mammal, then it certainly would have made an easier hop first from one type of rodent to another?
I am thinking of all the pet hamsters I raised as a kid, of the pet rat I took care of for a high school friend who was away for a semester, of the gerbils and gunea pigs my brother had as a kid. And of the wild rodents besides mice, such as rats, moles, etc. that live in the rural areas of a rural state (and of course there are city wild versions as well).
The retorviral researchers must be very aware of this since they've known about the mouse version for some 80 (?) years I think. Presumably they would have looked at other rodent species as well. ~Fern
Is there any reason why the XMRV gamma retrovirus couldn't be in other rodents? Such as pet hamsters, gerbils, or gunea pigs? Or rats, pet or wild? It seems to me if XMRV hopped into humans, which is a big hop from rodent to mammal, then it certainly would have made an easier hop first from one type of rodent to another?
I am thinking of all the pet hamsters I raised as a kid, of the pet rat I took care of for a high school friend who was away for a semester, of the gerbils and gunea pigs my brother had as a kid. And of the wild rodents besides mice, such as rats, moles, etc. that live in the rural areas of a rural state (and of course there are city wild versions as well).
The retorviral researchers must be very aware of this since they've known about the mouse version for some 80 (?) years I think. Presumably they would have looked at other rodent species as well. ~Fern