Pepper made headlines last year when his owner, John Lednicky, Ph.D., a University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions virologist,    discovered the jeilongvirus in a cotton mouse that Pepper caught. Now Pepper brought home an everglades short-tail shrew that had an unidentified strain of orthoreovirus.  

The discovery is important because this type of virus is known to infect humans, white-tailed deer, bats and other mammals. Unfortunately the effects of this virus are not fully understood, there have been cases of the virus associated with encephalitis, meningitis and gastroenteritis in children.

Dr. Lednicky and his collogues stress that more research involving serology and immunology studies are needed to fully understand the threat this virus may hold for both humans, wildlife and pets.

Pepper is happy and healthy and has not shown any illness or side effects as a result of his hunting expertise.

Journal Reference:

Emily DeRuyter, Robert A. Williams, Kuttichantran Subramaniam, John A. Lednicky. Coding complete sequences of the 10 genomic segments of a mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 isolated from a Blarina peninsulae shrew. Microbiology Resource Announcements, 2025; 14 (7) DOI: 10.1128/mra.00219-25

Cite This Page:

University of Florida. “Florida cat sniffs out another new virus—and scientists are listening.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 July 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250711224330.htm>.