Health

A virus seems to have jumped from marine animals into people for the first time ever, and it is causing serious vision problems

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Dozens of people with glaucoma-like symptoms have tested positive for a virus that we thought affected only marine life

Virginie Vaes/Getty Images

A virus that ordinarily affects marine animals has caused glaucoma-like symptoms and even irreversible vision loss in a small but growing group of people in China. This is the first known time that a virus that originates from aquatic animals has infected people and caused ill health . The cases are thought to have developed after eating raw seafood and handling aquatic animals, but there are also signs of human-to-human transmission.

“That this virus can infect invertebrates, fish and mammals is pretty remarkable,” says Edward Holmes at the University of Sydney, Australia.…