A new virus that causes blindness has been found in seafood

Chinese scientists have discovered a previously unknown virus, POH-VAU, in shrimp and fish that is capable of being transmitted to humans and triggering a rare eye disease. The results of the study have been published in the authoritative scientific journal Nature Microbiology.

As the researchers found, the virus enters the human body through the consumption of raw seafood. In more than 70% of infected patients, persistent ocular hypertension was identified — a dangerous condition accompanied by severe eye inflammation and a sharp increase in intraocular pressure. In a number of cases, the disease led to complete loss of vision, the authors of the study indicate.

Until now, the scientific community believed that viruses similar to POH-VAU were incapable of affecting human tissues and posed a threat exclusively to marine organisms. However, the new discovery has once again demonstrated that interspecies barriers are far less reliable than commonly thought, and it calls into question previous assumptions about the safety of an entire range of viruses for humans, the article emphasizes.