腺病毒是一类常见的DNA病毒的总称，这些病毒有的会感染人体，导致呼吸道感染、眼部感染等疾病；有的会导致牛、狗、猪等动物发病。人们此前认为腺病毒不会从动物传给人，新发现的病毒推翻了这种认识。

2009年5月，美国加利福尼亚州国家灵长类动物研究中心饲养的一只红伶猴出现咳嗽和昏睡等症状。两个月时间里，该中心的几十只红伶猴中有23只发病，最终19只死亡。

加州大学旧金山分校的研究人员分析死亡猴子的肺部组织样本，发现了一种新病毒。基因测序表明新病毒是一种腺病毒，不过基因组与其他腺病毒有明显区别，研究人员将其命名为“红伶猴腺病毒”。该病毒还有一个不寻常的特点，即它在人类细胞中长势良好。

猴群中的传染病暴发时，国家灵长类动物研究中心一名工作人员也出现了上呼吸道感染症状，该工作人员的两位家庭成员也出现类似症状，数周后自行痊愈。抗体检测表明这名工作人员与猴子感染的是同一种病毒。该中心一只健康猕猴体内也发现了这种新病毒的抗体，这显示新病毒的源头可能是猕猴，此后传染给了人或者红伶猴，并在两者之间相互传染。

研究人员在新一期《公共科学图书馆病原体》杂志发表论文说，致病微生物跨物种传染的能力可能比原先认为的更强。对这种新病毒进行研究，有助于深入了解病原体在动物与人之间传播的情况，为预测和应对传染病疫情提供参考。

这种新病毒还具有潜在的益处。因为它在人群中很少见，一般人对它没有抗体，这使它有望作为基因疗法的载体病毒，将有益的DNA片断运送到人体所需部位来治疗疾病，而不会引发免疫反应。在基因疗法中，人体免疫系统对载体病毒的错误攻击可能导致严重后果。

原文出处：

PLoS Pathogens    doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002155

Cross-Species Transmission of a Novel Adenovirus Associated with a Fulminant Pneumonia Outbreak in a New World Monkey Colony

Eunice C. Chen1, Shigeo Yagi, Kristi R. Kelly, Sally P. Mendoza, Nicole Maninger, Ann Rosenthal, Abigail Spinner, Karen L. Bales, David P. Schnurr, Nicholas W. Lerche, Charles Y. Chiu1

Adenoviruses are DNA viruses that naturally infect many vertebrates, including humans and monkeys, and cause a wide range of clinical illnesses in humans. Infection from individual strains has conventionally been thought to be species-specific. Here we applied the Virochip, a pan-viral microarray, to identify a novel adenovirus (TMAdV, titi monkey adenovirus) as the cause of a deadly outbreak in a closed colony of New World monkeys (titi monkeys; Callicebus cupreus) at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC). Among 65 titi monkeys housed in a building, 23 (34%) developed upper respiratory symptoms that progressed to fulminant pneumonia and hepatitis, and 19 of 23 monkeys, or 83% of those infected, died or were humanely euthanized. Whole-genome sequencing of TMAdV revealed that this adenovirus is a new species and highly divergent, sharing <57% pairwise nucleotide identity with other adenoviruses. Cultivation of TMAdV was successful in a human A549 lung adenocarcinoma cell line, but not in primary or established monkey kidney cells. At the onset of the outbreak, the researcher in closest contact with the monkeys developed an acute respiratory illness, with symptoms persisting for 4 weeks, and had a convalescent serum sample seropositive for TMAdV. A clinically ill family member, despite having no contact with the CNPRC, also tested positive, and screening of a set of 81 random adult blood donors from the Western United States detected TMAdV-specific neutralizing antibodies in 2 individuals (2/81, or 2.5%). These findings raise the possibility of zoonotic infection by TMAdV and human-to-human transmission of the virus in the population. Given the unusually high case fatality rate from the outbreak (83%), it is unlikely that titi monkeys are the native host species for TMAdV, and the natural reservoir of the virus is still unknown. The discovery of TMAdV, a novel adenovirus with the capacity to infect both monkeys and humans, suggests that adenoviruses should be monitored closely as potential causes of cross-species outbreaks.