Zoonotic viral spillover represents a major global health challenge arising from complex interactions among viral evolution, reservoir ecology, host biology, environmental disruption, and human activities. Successful emergence requires viruses to overcome successive ecological, cellular, and immunological barriers, including receptor compatibility, cellular tropism, replication efficiency, and innate immune restriction. Reservoir hosts such as bats, rodents, birds, and livestock contribute to viral maintenance and diversification through distinct ecological and physiological characteristics, while deforestation, agricultural expansion, wildlife trade, intensive farming, urbanization, and climate variability can increase opportunities for cross-species transmission. Following spillover, viral adaptation and host susceptibility determine whether infections remain sporadic or progress to sustained human transmission. This review integrates ecological, molecular, immunological, and anthropogenic determinants of zoonotic emergence and examines major historical spillover events involving coronaviruses, influenza viruses, filoviruses, henipaviruses, and arboviruses. We further evaluate genomic and metagenomic surveillance, wastewater monitoring, artificial intelligence, ecological modeling, and integrated One Health approaches for early risk assessment and pandemic preparedness. Major knowledge gaps include limited characterization of global viral diversity, surveillance bias, inadequate functional validation of newly identified viruses, fragmented data systems, and limited predictive capacity. Future prevention requires integration of technological innovation with ecological conservation, equitable surveillance capacity, responsible biotechnology governance, and sustainable One Health Planetary Health strategies.
Aeromonas hydrophila is an opportunistic pathogen of fish, humans, and livestock, and has a severe negative impact on aquaculture development. Phage therapy is considered an alternative strategy for controlling bacterial infections and contamination. In this study, a novel phage, Aeromonas hydrophila BMBAH1, was isolated. Transmission electron microscopy showed that phage BMBAH1 had a long tail and an icosahedral head. Biological characterization indicated that phage BMBAH1 remained highly active across a broad range of temperatures and pH values, exhibiting long-term and significant inhibitory effects on host bacteria at an optimal multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.1. The genome of phage BMBAH1 is 237 kb in length with a guanine-cytosine (GC) content of 44.3%, and it was identified as a typical jumbo phage and predicted to contain 241 open reading frames (ORFs). Whole-proteome-based phylogenetic analysis, gene-sharing network analysis, and core protein clustering consistently indicated that phage BMBAH1 belongs to the family Chimalliviridae . However, phage BMBAH1 exhibited low intergenomic similarity to previously isolated phages, with values of approximately 30%. These results support the designation of phage BMBAH1 as the representative member of a candidate novel viral genus, designated Southlakevirus . Our findings expand the diversity of A. hydrophila phages and provide a promising genetic resource for further exploring biological characteristics of jumbo phages and developing biocontrol strategies.
Tahyna virus (TAHV) is a neglected mosquito-borne Orthobunyavirus pathogenic to humans. In Italy, TAHV was first recorded in Friuli Venezia-Giulia and then repeatedly in Emilia Romagna Region (Northern Italy). This study was set up to verify the presence of TAHV in Central Italy and to identify its potential vectors. Mosquito surveillance was conducted from April to November 2025, using 78 CDCCO₂ traps across Latium and Tuscany Regions. A total of 17,728 Culicidae was captured, including 9237 specimens of four potential vector Aedes species (Aedes albopictus, Aedes caspius, Aedes detritus, and Aedes vexans). Aedes caspius was the dominant species, showing a marked abundance peak from late-summer to early-autumn. Additionally, a high density of Ae. vexans, a primary TAHV vector species in Europe, was recorded in Arezzo province, Eastern Tuscany. A total of 356 pools of the Aedes species, made up of 6600 specimens, was screened for TAHV by real-time and conventional PCR. TAHV was detected in one pool of Ae. caspius collected in Grosseto province, Southern Tuscany. This study provides the first report of TAHV in Central Italy, identifying the southernmost detection in the Country to date.
Capturing nanoscale biological objects in nanochannels depends strongly on surface geometry and interfacial interactions. However, the spatial and temporal limitations of atomistic simulations prevent the direct representation of a complete rabies virion. In this study, we used molecular dynamics simulations to examine the force-driven retention of a reduced rabies-virus model with a characteristic size of approximately 4 nm in a water-filled platinum nanochannel with non-ideal surface roughness. The simulated construct was developed from reported rabies-virus structural information but did not reproduce the complete morphology, envelope, genomic content, or biological functionality of an intact virion. The atomic interactions were described using DREIDING and Universal Force Field parameters, the TIP3P water model, the embedded atom method for Pt–Pt interactions, and Lennard-Jones and Coulombic terms for interfacial interactions. After 10 ns of canonical equilibration at 300 K, the system underwent a 20 ns force-driven production stage. Roughness sizes of 35, 37, 40, and 43 Å were investigated. Among the four simulated configurations, the 40 Å roughness case produced the largest maximum density (0.187 atom/ų), the lowest maximum velocity (0.006 Å/ps), the largest retained surface-mesh volume (31,118 ų), and the most negative reduced-model–Pt interaction energy (−469.91 kcal/mol). The simulation-defined retained fraction for the reduced construct reached 95% at 20 ns. The weaker responses at 43 Å indicated a non-monotonic dependence on roughness size within this model and the investigated geometries. These results characterized the force-driven behavior of a specific 4-nm construct under the stated simulation conditions; they did not establish roughness-dependent capture behavior for intact rabies virions or predict experimental device performance.
Aeromonas hydrophila is an opportunistic pathogen of fish, humans, and livestock, and has a severe negative impact on aquaculture development. Phage therapy is considered an alternative strategy for controlling bacterial infections and contamination. In this study, a novel phage, Aeromonas hydrophila BMBAH1, was isolated. Transmission electron microscopy showed that phage BMBAH1 had a long tail and an icosahedral head. Biological characterization indicated that phage BMBAH1 remained highly active across a broad range of temperatures and pH values, exhibiting long-term and significant inhibitory effects on host bacteria at an optimal multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.1. The genome of phage BMBAH1 is 237 kb in length with a guanine-cytosine (GC) content of 44.3%, and it was identified as a typical jumbo phage and predicted to contain 241 open reading frames (ORFs). Whole-proteome-based phylogenetic analysis, gene-sharing network analysis, and core protein clustering consistently indicated that phage BMBAH1 belongs to the family Chimalliviridae. However, phage BMBAH1 exhibited low intergenomic similarity to previously isolated phages, with values of approximately 30%. These results support the designation of phage BMBAH1 as the representative member of a candidate novel viral genus, designated Southlakevirus. Our findings expand the diversity of A. hydrophila phages and provide a promising genetic resource for further exploring biological characteristics of jumbo phages and developing biocontrol strategies.
