Cat Pepper from Tallahassee Helps Discover a New Virus Strain

Cat Pepper from the city of Tallahassee helped its scientist owner discover a new virus strain. American virologist John Lednitski described a new strain of orthoreovirus thanks to his cat's skillfulness. The point is that the pet, named Pepper, brought a dead shrew infected with the virus to its owner just in time. Testing showed that the shrew was a carrier of a previously unknown strain of orthoreovirus. It is known that viruses of this genus can infect white-tailed deer, bats, and other mammals. Its effect on the human body is poorly studied: there are only extremely rare reports of the ability of orthoreovirus to cause meningitis, encephalitis, and gastroenteritis.