According to a new study conducted at the University College of London (UCL), people pass on their home and wild animals more viruses than they receive from them.
For research, a team of scientists has developed and applied methodological tools for analyzing almost 12 million viral genomes that are currently placed in publicly available databases.
According to the study, in cases where viruses move between people and animals, people infected animals in 64 percent of cases.
“We give animals more viruses than we get from them,” said one of the researchers, biologist Cedric Tang.
, as an example, he cited the fact that the Covid-19 spreads much faster after transmission to a person.
Tan explained the reason for this discovery by the fact that the human population is great and scattered around the world. According to him, they did not expect such a result, but “in a retrospect, it makes sense.”
The biologist also emphasized that the spread of viruses from humans to animals is a threat to many endangered species.
The results of the study are published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.