Ranawaka B, Hayashi S, Waterhouse PM, de Felippes FF.
Homo sapiens: The Superspreader of Plant Viral Diseases.
Viruses 2020;
12:E1462. [PMID:
33348905 PMCID:
PMC7766621 DOI:
10.3390/v12121462]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Plant viruses are commonly vectored by flying or crawling animals, such as aphids and beetles, and cause serious losses in major agricultural and horticultural crops. Controlling virus spread is often achieved by minimizing a crop's exposure to the vector, or by reducing vector numbers with compounds such as insecticides. A major, but less obvious, factor not controlled by these measures is Homo sapiens. Here, we discuss the inconvenient truth of how humans have become superspreaders of plant viruses on both a local and a global scale.
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