Preserve a Voucher Specimen! The Critical Need for Integrating Natural History Collections in Infectious Disease Studies

Cody W. Thompson; Kendra L. Phelps; Marc W. Allard; Joseph A. Cook; Jonathan L. Dunnum; Adam W. Ferguson; Magnus Gelang; Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan; Deborah L. Paul; DeeAnn M. Reeder; Nancy B. Simmons; Maarten P. M. Vanhove; Paul W. Webala; Marcelo Weksler; C. William Kilpatrick

doi:10.1128/mBio.02698-20

mBio (Feb 2021)

Preserve a Voucher Specimen! The Critical Need for Integrating Natural History Collections in Infectious Disease Studies

Cody W. Thompson,
Kendra L. Phelps,
Marc W. Allard,
Joseph A. Cook,
Jonathan L. Dunnum,
Adam W. Ferguson,
Magnus Gelang,
Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan,
Deborah L. Paul,
DeeAnn M. Reeder,
Nancy B. Simmons,
Maarten P. M. Vanhove,
Paul W. Webala,
Marcelo Weksler,
C. William Kilpatrick

Affiliations

Cody W. Thompson: ORCiD; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Kendra L. Phelps: ORCiD; EcoHealth Alliance, New York, New York, USA
Marc W. Allard: Center of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U. S. Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland, USA
Joseph A. Cook: Museum of Southwestern Biology, Biology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Jonathan L. Dunnum: Museum of Southwestern Biology, Biology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Adam W. Ferguson: Gantz Family Collections Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Magnus Gelang: Gothenburg Natural History Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan: Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak, Malaysia
Deborah L. Paul: Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
DeeAnn M. Reeder: Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Nancy B. Simmons: Department of Mammalogy, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA
Maarten P. M. Vanhove: Hasselt University, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Research Group Zoology: Biodiversity and Toxicology, Diepenbeek, Belgium
Paul W. Webala: Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Maasai Mara University, Narok, Kenya
Marcelo Weksler: ORCiD; Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
C. William Kilpatrick: University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02698-20
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 1

Abstract

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Despite being nearly 10 months into the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, the definitive animal host for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the causal agent of COVID-19, remains unknown. Unfortunately, similar problems exist for other betacoronaviruses, and no vouchered specimens exist to corroborate host species identification for most of these pathogens.

Published in mBio

ISSN: 2161-2129 (Print); 2150-7511 (Online)
Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Science: Microbiology
Website: https://journals.asm.org/journal/mbio

About the journal