Wu et al.
Characterization of viral diversity in wild marmot blood from the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Front Microbiol. 2026;17:1668125. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2026.1668125
The Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana), a key rodent species inhabiting the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and adjacent regions, serves as an important reservoir for bacterial pathogens and multiple viral agents. Recently, the Himalayan subtype of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) has been detected in marmots, suggesting a potential role in the maintenance of the virus within natural foci.
In this study, blood samples from marmots collected in Yushu Prefecture and Guoluo Prefecture were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics approaches to characterize viral dynamics. A diverse range of viral families was identified, including Anelloviridae, Flaviviridae, Parvoviridae, and Polyomaviridae.
Notably, the authors report for the first time the identification of a TBEV sequence isolated from marmot blood. The viral genome exhibited 94.31% nucleotide similarity to a reference strain previously isolated from human brain tissue. This high degree of similarity suggests that marmots may serve as potential hosts of the Himalayan subtype of TBEV and could be involved in its natural transmission cycle. However, the role of marmots in TBEV maintenance and transmission remains hypothetical and requires further epidemiological and experimental validation.