Fire-footed rope squirrels identified as a natural reservoir for monkeypox virus

A cross-species transmission event documented in Côte d’Ivoire provides new insights into the spread of mpox in the wild

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

Mpox is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV) that can lead to severe illness in humans. It regularly spills over from wildlife to humans in West and Central Africa, and some of these spillovers have recently sparked large global outbreaks sustained by human-to-human transmission. In order to prevent such outbreaks effectively, it is crucial to gain a thorough understanding of how the virus circulates in wildlife and what triggers spillover events.

A deadly outbreak among mangabeys

For decades, the researchers now at HIOH have worked closely with the Taï Chimpanzee Project to monitor the health of wild chimpanzees, sooty mangabeys and other wildlife in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire — a long-term commitment that proved essential to detecting this transmission event. In early 2023, the team identified an outbreak of mpox in a well-studied group of sooty mangabeys: About one third of the group showed clinical signs of disease, and four infants died.

Viral genome sequencing revealed that the virus detected in the infected monkeys was nearly identical to an MPXV strain identified in a fire-footed rope squirrel found dead 12 weeks earlier nearby. In an attempt to link both observations, the team analyzed fecal samples from the mangabeys, seeking evidence of pre-outbreak MPXV circulation and contact between the host species. One sample collected eight weeks before the outbreak onset contained DNA from both the virus and the rope squirrel, providing strong evidence of interspecies transmission at this moment. Behavioral data supported these findings. Sooty mangabeys from this group have already been observed catching and eating fire-footed rope squirrels, which provides a direct route for the transmission of viruses.

Squirrels under suspicion: now confirmed

Squirrels have long been suspected as potential reservoirs for MPXV. The first isolation of the virus from a wild animal was from a rope squirrel (Funisciurus anaerythrus) captured in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1985. In 2003, imported squirrels infected with MPXV were also among the rodents suspected to have been the source of an mpox outbreak in pet prairie dog owners in the US. Yet, these animals had never been shown to be directly responsible for an outbreak in another species in nature. The new study is a breakthrough that starts unveiling how the pathogen circulates in the wild.

What this means for human health

As hunting pressure has reduced populations of larger game species, rodents such as squirrels are increasingly hunted and consumed by humans, which likely heightens the risk of human exposure and zoonotic transmission of MPXV. Therefore, confirming the direct involvement of fire-footed rope squirrels in interspecies transmission carries important public health implications.

“Identifying the animal sources of the virus and the exposure routes that lead to inter-species transmission are key steps towards understanding spillover mechanisms and developing effective prevention measures to mitigate the risk of transmission to humans,” says Livia V. Patrono, one of the senior authors at HIOH.

The authors recommend increasing awareness among people who come into contact with squirrels and other wildlife, such as children. In addition, they call for a deeper understanding of MPXV ecology in reservoir species – especially squirrels – as well as in intermediate hosts, particularly non-human primates, in MPXV-endemic regions, to strengthen evidence-based prevention strategies.

One Health approach more relevant than ever

The findings underscore the importance of a One Health approach that recognizes the links between human, animal, and environmental health. “This discovery was only possible thanks to long-term ecological research, continuous health monitoring and systematic sample collection in the Taï National Park,” says Fabian Leendertz, senior author, director of HIOH and co-director of the Taï Chimpanzee Project. “We need to maintain and expand this kind of effort to better understand and hopefully reduce the risks posed by emerging infectious diseases, including mpox – we need to strengthen prevention.”

Josef Penninger, Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, adds: “This study also highlights the value of close cooperation with our African partners. Only through strong, trust-based collaborations with local authorities and research institutions can we effectively tackle zoonotic diseases and make an impact, not just regionally, but globally.”

Study information:

The study was carried out in collaboration with an international team of researchers from the following institutions:

• Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
• Université Peleforo Gon Coulibaly Korhogo, Korhogo, Côte d’Ivoire
• Senckenberg Museum for Natural History Görlitz, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, Germany
• Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Greifswald–Insel Riems, Germany
• Dresden University of Technology, Germany
• Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
• Institute of Cognitive Sciences, CNRS UMR5229, University of Lyon, France
• German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany
• Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny d’Abidjan-Cocody, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
• University of Greifswald, Germany
• University Medicine Greifswald, Germany

Within the Helmholtz Institute for One Health, the study involved scientists from the research groups “Ecology and Emergence of Zoonotic Diseases”, “Evolutionary Community Ecology”, and “Pathogen Evolution”.

This press release is also available on our website: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/media-center/newsroom/news-detail/fire-footed-rope-squirrels-identified-as-a-natural-reservoir-for-monkeypox-virus/.

Further information:

Fire-footed rope squirrels identified as a natural reservoir for monkeypox virus – HIOH News

Homepage of the Taï Chimpanzee Project

Helmholtz Institute for One Health:

The Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) is dedicated to interdisciplinary research on the interrelationships between human, animal and environmental health. HIOH’s goal is a better understanding of zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and the evolution of pathogens as a prerequisite for successful pandemic preparedness and prevention. In accordance with the One Health approach, according to which the health of humans, animals and environment is to be regarded as an inseparable whole, HIOH unites a variety of scientific disciplines and research foci under one roof. www.helmholtz-hioh.de/en

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research:

Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and its other sites in Germany are engaged in the study of bacterial and viral infections and the body’s defense mechanisms. They have a profound expertise in natural compound research and its exploitation as a valuable source for novel anti-infectives. As member of the Helmholtz Association and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) the HZI performs translational research laying the ground for the development of new treatments and vaccines against infectious diseases. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en

---

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-10086-y 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Transmission of MPXV from fire-footed rope squirrels to sooty mangabeys

Article Publication Date

11-Feb-2026

TotalEnergies Expands Namibia Footprint With New Operated Offshore License

By Charles Kennedy - Feb 06, 2026

TotalEnergies has signed agreements to acquire a 42.5% operated interest in the PEL104 exploration license offshore Namibia from Eight Offshore Investments Holdings and Maravilla Oil & Gas. Once the transaction closes, the French major will take over operatorship of the block, partnering with Petrobras, which will also hold 42.5%, Namibia’s national oil company Namcor with 10%, and Eight retaining a 5% stake.

PEL104 is located in the Lüderitz Basin offshore southern Namibia and covers approximately 11,000 square kilometers. The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals from Namibian authorities and joint venture partners.

The move builds on TotalEnergies’ aggressive expansion in Namibia following its acquisition in December of a 40% operated interest in the adjacent PEL83 license. Namibia has emerged as one of the most promising new offshore exploration hotspots globally, following a string of major discoveries in recent years, including TotalEnergies’ own Venus find and the Mopane discoveries operated by partners.

By adding PEL104 to its portfolio, TotalEnergies is strengthening its operational control and geological exposure across multiple basins, allowing it to leverage shared infrastructure, subsurface expertise, and exploration synergies. The Lüderitz Basin, while less appraised than the Orange Basin to the north, is considered highly prospective and could offer material upside if exploration success mirrors nearby discoveries.

The partnership with Petrobras also underscores growing international interest in Namibia’s offshore potential, as major oil companies seek to replenish reserves amid declining output from mature basins elsewhere. For Namibia, continued upstream investment supports long-term ambitions to become a meaningful oil-producing nation, with potential spillover benefits for fiscal revenues, employment, and local content development.

TotalEnergies has operated in Namibia for decades and maintains a downstream footprint as one of the country’s largest fuel distributors. The company has also indicated interest in developing low-carbon and multi-energy projects locally, aligning with its broader global strategy while continuing to prioritize high-impact upstream opportunities.

The PEL104 transaction further cements TotalEnergies’ role as a leading operator in Namibia’s offshore exploration drive at a time when the country is attracting sustained global attention from energy investors.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

 

H5N1 causes die-off of Antarctic skuas, a seabird

Skua deaths mark first wildlife mortality due to avian flu on Antarctica

University of California - Davis

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Scientists evaluate skua carcasses at Beak Island in Antarctica in March 2024.

view more 

Credit: Ben Wallis

More than 50 skuas in Antarctica died from the high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the summers of 2023 and 2024, marking the first documented die-off of wildlife from the virus on the continent. That is confirmed for the first time in a study led by Erasmus MC in The Netherlands and the University of California, Davis. It published this week in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

A relative of gulls, skuas are predatory, large brown birds living mostly in polar and subpolar environments. Similar to raptors, they play an important ecological role as scavengers. That role could position them to further spread the virus across Antarctica, the report notes.

Scientists previously detected the virus in a kelp gull and two skuas in Antarctica found dead in January and February 2024. However, avian flu had not been confirmed as the cause of their deaths.

“We knew there were animals with the infection, but this is the first study to show they died of the viral infection,” said co-senior author Ralph Vanstreels, a wildlife veterinarian with the UC Davis One Health Institute within the Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. “It’s an important distinction in the early days of an outbreak.”

Expedition to Antarctica

In March 2024, the authors traveled to Antarctica on a research expedition shortly after the breeding seasons of skuas and penguins. 

They surveyed wildlife at 10 locations in the South Shetland Islands, northern Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula. When they found infected or dead wildlife, they collected tissue samples and environmental samples for analysis and performed necropsies.

The team found and performed post-mortem examinations on carcasses of gentoo penguins, Adélie penguins and Antarctic fur seals, but H5N1 was not diagnosed as the cause of death of those animals.

“As the expedition progressed, it became obvious quickly that skuas were a major victim,” said Vanstreels.

The team detected H5N1 in skuas at three locations – Hope Bay, Devil Island and Beak Island, which experienced a mass die-off of south polar skuas.

“We diagnosed high pathogenicity avian influenza as the cause of death for nearly all of the dead skuas we found at Beak Island,” said first author Matteo Iervolino, a Ph.D. candidate at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. “There, I could really see with my eyes the impact this virus can have on these populations.”

Vanstreels called it a “crisis in animal suffering.” The virus hits the brain, causing neurological symptoms, like a twisted neck or abnormal stretching. The birds swim or walk in circles. Sometimes they stumble blindly into an object or fall out of the air. The authors emphasize that humans are partly responsible for the virus and for preventing its spread.

History and spread of H5N1

H5N1 virus was discovered in 1996 in Southeast China on a domestic goose farm. It went uncontrolled within the poultry industry for several years, during which it spilled over into wild birds and then spread to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and later to North America, South America and, in early 2024, to Antarctica.

The same lineage of virus now affecting Antarctic skuas previously decimated elephant seals and sea lions in Argentina, led to the loss of more than 400 million poultry, and has affected dairy cows, mink, foxes, bears, otters and many other mammals and wild birds.

It can also spread to people. About half of the approximately 1,000 people infected with the virus died.

“We let the virus slip out through our fingers when it first emerged in the poultry industry,” said corresponding senior author Thijs Kuiken, a professor at Erasmus MC. “Once it got into wild bird populations, we lost ability to control this virus. Now it’s established in wild bird populations in all the continental regions of the world except Oceania.”

More surveillance needed to prevent spread

Wildlife in Antarctica already face a harsh environment and many threats, from global warming and increased tourism to invasive species, overfishing and pollution. Avian influenza creates an additional stressor requiring further surveillance and monitoring to help prevent future spillover, the study said.

For example, the last census of skuas in Antarctica was conducted in the 1980s, when scientists counted about 800 breeding pairs. Without an updated accounting of the population, the true impact of 50 skua deaths remains unclear.

“Everything points toward this virus spreading further,” Kuiken said. “If nobody is watching, we won’t know what is happening.”

The HPAI Australis Expedition was funded by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and Ocean Expeditions. The study was funded by the European Union, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and PTI Global Health.

 

---

Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-34736-3 

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

The expanding H5N1 avian influenza panzootic causes high mortality of skuas in Antarctica

Article Publication Date

3-Feb-2026

A skua stands with some gentoo penguins in the background in Antarctica.

Credit

Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

The research team boarded the Support Vessel S/V Australis in March 2024 to investigate how avian influenza may be impacting wildlife in Antarctica.

Credit

Antonio Alcami/CSIC

The cause of death for nearly all dead skuas found at Beak Island in March 2024 was avian influenza, the research team confirmed.

Credit

Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

A researcher conducts an avian autopsy of a dead skua in Antarctica.

Credit

Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

A skua perches on a cliff in Antarctica in March 2024.

Credit

Matteo Iervolino/Erasmus MC

Mynamar/India

Why Myanmar’s Election Matters for India’s Northeast

Thursday 5 February 2026, by Sushovan Dhar

The election marks a new phase in the junta’s attempt to legitimise repression at home while stabilising its authority across borders. [1]

This Sunday marks the final round of Myanmar’s three-phase general election, yet it hardly resembles a democratic contest. Held amidst a brutal civil war, the process has unfolded with its outcome largely predetermined. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has already secured the bulk of contested seats, and when combined with the 25 per cent of parliamentary seats reserved for unelected military appointees, the generals who seized power in February 2021 are guaranteed effective control of the legislature. The election, in other words, does not resolve Myanmar’s political crisis; it codifies the military’s dominance within a constitutional façade.

Far from signalling a return to civilian rule, the election marks a new phase in the junta’s attempt to legitimise repression at home while stabilising its authority across borders.

Manufacturing Legitimacy

The defining features of the current polls are now well established: the dissolution of parties that secured an overwhelming mandate in 2020; the mass exclusion of entire townships from the voting process; forced mobilisation through threats of conscription, imprisonment, and loss of livelihood; and polling conducted amidst airstrikes, armed clashes, and military occupations. The regime has predetermined the outcomes by hollowing out participation and sharply reducing turnout. What is being staged is not a contest for power but a performance of order. Under such conditions, elections strengthen authoritarian rule. They permit violence to be reframed as law enforcement, dissent to be criminalised as anti-constitutional activity, and resistance to be redefined as terrorism against an ‘elected’ state. The shift is not from coercion to consent but from emergency rule to juridified repression.

By holding elections without resolving the internal crisis, the Myanmar junta seeks to stabilise itself rather than the country. Territorial fragmentation remains intact, with large areas beyond junta control. Armed resistance has not diminished; in many regions, it has expanded. In a sense, the election does not bridge the legitimacy gap but exposes it. And authoritarian regimes confronted with such gaps rarely compromise—they escalate.

Such behaviour has consequences that cannot be contained within Myanmar’s borders. The normalisation of repression and the prolongation of war spread instability instead of eliminating it. Border regions become zones where conflict is displaced outward, where humanitarian crises, militarisation, and political exceptionalism accumulate. It is here that the regional consequences of Myanmar’s sham election come sharply into focus.


Northeast: A Frontier of Spillover

For India’s Northeast, Myanmar’s election is not an abstract question of democratic norms but a concerning political development unfolding next door. The regions of Myanmar most affected by conflict—Sagaing, Chin, Kachin, and northern Shan—border Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. The continuation of civil war across this frontier transforms the Northeast into a neighbouring theatre of consequence.

In Mizoram, the impact is most visible in the steady presence of Chin refugees fleeing violence and repression. Mostly sheltered by community networks and church-based solidarity, these refugees no longer face temporary emergency displacement. The junta’s election strategy forecloses the possibility of return. Repression is no longer episodic; it is institutionalised. Yet the Indian state continues to deny refugee recognition, refusing a national legal framework and leaving border states to manage a permanent humanitarian situation through ad hoc means. The contradiction between state-level accommodations and the union government’s militarisation is likely to deepen.

Manipur is situated at the intersection of Myanmar’s civil war and India’s internal fractures, posing a significant risk. The presence of ethnic groups living across the border and the state’s own unresolved political conflicts exacerbate an already volatile situation. Hindutva-inflected security narratives and domestic power equations easily instrumentalise external instability in a context of acute internal violence and political breakdown. The dominant narrative recasts cross-border movement as infiltration and labels refugees as security threats. Ethnic kinship is redefined as external interference. This approach recreates a politics of suspicion that feeds militarism, exceptional laws, and the erosion of civil space.


(Un)Free Movement Regime

The acceleration of border fencing along the India–Myanmar frontier, the suspension of the Free Movement Regime, and the resurgence of citizenship anxieties are often presented as separate responses to security concerns. In reality, the normalisation of war in Myanmar provides a rationale for a unified framework of governance. The junta’s assertion of electoral legitimacy provides a veneer of political justification for this shift: a violent neighbour is no longer depicted as a failing state but as a sovereign authority with whom borders must be secured, populations categorised, and mobility regulated.

The dismantling of the Free Movement Regime marks a decisive break with the social and historical reality of the frontier. For centuries, cross-border movement among Naga, Kuki-Chin-Zomi, and other communities functioned as the basis of everyday life. Its suspension reframes historical and cultural continuity as illegality; mobility becomes suspicion, and kinship becomes a security risk. In this context, refugees fleeing repression in Myanmar are easily folded into a language of infiltration, particularly in states already fractured by ethnic conflict.

These anxieties do not exist in isolation. They intersect with citizenship issues—most notably the NRC—whose logic rests on documentary proof, bureaucratic enumeration, and exclusion. Even where the NRC is not formally implemented, its shadow looms large. The effect is anticipatory compliance: communities internalise the fear of being rendered illegal, foreign, or expendable. The border thus ceases to be merely a line of defence; it becomes a device for reordering belonging itself.


Militarisation of the Region

Under these conditions, militarisation ceases to be exceptional and becomes a mode of governance in its own right. Security forces do not simply enforce the border; they regulate movement, livelihoods, and political expression. Exceptional measures—checkpoints, surveillance, armed patrols, and emergency laws—become routinised. What is portrayed as protection against external threats, in essence, serves internal disciplining.

This has profound consequences for the Northeast states. The region is not governed through political mediation or democratic negotiation, but through a permanent security lens. Development is subordinated to control; citizenship to verification; peace to manageability. The rhetoric of connectivity and ‘Act East’ is quietly displaced by a buffer-zone logic, where stability is defined not by justice or consent but by the mere absence of visible disorder.


Repression Beyond Borders

In this sense, Myanmar’s sham election does not merely justify repression within its frontiers; it helps entrench a political order within India’s Northeast where coercion substitutes for politics. Militarisation becomes the default grammar of rule—not because it resolves conflict, but because it renders conflict administratively governable. Myanmar’s sham election and its repressive consequences have the potential to trigger sustained refugee flows, deeper militarisation, and ethnic polarisation in India’s Northeast.

What is striking in this trajectory is the quiet role of the Indian state. Treating Myanmar’s election as inevitable and prioritising security coordination over political distance, New Delhi actively participates in the normalisation of authoritarian rule rather than acting as a neutral observer of its consequences. Border fencing, refugee denials, and the suspension of mobility regimes are not merely defensive responses; they are political choices that align India’s border governance with the junta’s logic of control. In doing so, the Indian state helps translate Myanmar’s internal repression into a regional order structured around surveillance, exclusion, and managed instability.

Analysing this only as a foreign policy issue misses the point. The Northeast is not merely adjacent to Myanmar’s crisis; it is structurally exposed to it. Authoritarian elections do not end wars—they reorganise them, and their consequences travel outward across borders that repression alone cannot seal.

23 January 2026

Source: Northeast Now


Footnotes


[1] Photo: Far from signalling a return to civilian rule, the election marks a new phase in the junta’s attempt to legitimise repression at home while stabilising its authority across borders.


Sushovan Dhar is an activist and trade unionist and a supporter of the Fourth International in India.