{
  "id": 5420794,
  "title": "Burning down the mouse: Effects of wildfire and post-fire reseeding on Sin Nombre virus prevalence in its reservoir host",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/burning-down-the-mouse-effects-of-wildfire-and-post-fire-reseeding-on",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.02.748549v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Wildfire and subsequent reseeding have the potential to reshape habitats and biological communities, which may also impact pathogen ecology. To explore this, researchers examined the effects of wildfire and wildfire mitigation on the prevalence and viral load of Sin Nombre virus (SNV) in its reservoir host, the western deer mouse, in northern New Mexico. The study involved analyzing 411 individual deer mice through RT-qPCR testing.\n\nThe researchers found that relative abundance of deer mice was highest at reseeded sites, suggesting that habitat structure, specifically the gradient from closed canopy to open-herbaceous habitat, was associated with increased relative abundance. Interestingly, SNV prevalence was significantly higher in reseeded sites compared to either burned or unburned sites, but without a difference between burn history types. Viral load did not vary between burn history types either, and no strong predictors of viral load were identified using zero-inflated gamma hurdle models.\n\nSurprisingly, the study also revealed that an El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle positively influenced SNV prevalence in a subsample of sites studied during and one year after an ENSO year. The findings indicate that both reseeding and ENSO provide resource pulses that support increases in mouse density, thereby enhancing SNV transmission. These results underscore the importance of considering the impacts of post-fire management practices on SNV prevalence in its reservoir host when implementing such strategies and utilizing treated areas.",
  "summary": "Worldwide, physical habitats and biological communities are being reshaped by wildfire. Such changes have obvious potential to alter pathogen ecology, yet few studies, outside of those focused on ectoparasites, have tested the effects of wildfire on pathogen prevalence in wildlife. Even fewer have focused on the impacts of strategies for post-fire remediation on pathogen circulation. Here, we…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}