Climate change increases spillover risk of rodent-borne arenaviruses, study warns

Climate change is likely to drive rodent-borne arenaviruses into parts of South America that have never faced these diseases, putting new communities of people at risk, finds a study from the University of California, Davis. For the study, published in the journal npj Viruses, scientists incorporated climate projections, shifting rodent populations, and the risks of human infection into a model to offer an early risk projection for arenaviruses and other diseases in the next 20 to 40 years.