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The Distribution of Henipaviruses in Southeast Asia and Australasia: Is Wallace's Line a Barrier to Nipah Virus?

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Breed, A. C., Meers, J., Sendow, I., Bossart, K. N., Barr, J. A., Smith, I., Wacharapluesadee, S., Wang, L. F. and Field, H. E. (2013) The Distribution of Henipaviruses in Southeast Asia and Australasia: Is Wallace's Line a Barrier to Nipah Virus? Plos One, 8 (4). ISSN 1932-6203

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Article Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061316

Abstract

Nipah virus (NiV) (Genus Henipavirus) is a recently emerged zoonotic virus that causes severe disease in humans and has been found in bats of the genus Pteropus. Whilst NiV has not been detected in Australia, evidence for NiV-infection has been found in pteropid bats in some of Australia's closest neighbours. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of henipaviruses in fruit bat (Family Pteropodidae) populations to the north of Australia. In particular we tested the hypothesis that Nipah virus is restricted to west of Wallace's Line. Fruit bats from Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Indonesia were tested for the presence of antibodies to Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus, and tested for the presence of HeV, NiV or henipavirus RNA by PCR. Evidence was found for the presence of Nipah virus in both Pteropus vampyrus and Rousettus amplexicaudatus populations from East Timor. Serology and PCR also suggested the presence of a henipavirus that was neither HeV nor NiV in Pteropus alecto and Acerodon celebensis. The results demonstrate the presence of NiV in the fruit bat populations on the eastern side of Wallace's Line and within 500 km of Australia. They indicate the presence of non-NiV, non-HeV henipaviruses in fruit bat populations of Sulawesi and Sumba and possibly in Papua New Guinea. It appears that NiV is present where P. vampyrus occurs, such as in the fruit bat populations of Timor, but where this bat species is absent other henipaviruses may be present, as on Sulawesi and Sumba. Evidence was obtained for the presence henipaviruses in the non-Pteropid species R. amplexicaudatus and in A. celebensis. The findings of this work fill some gaps in knowledge in geographical and species distribution of henipaviruses in Australasia which will contribute to planning of risk management and surveillance activities.

Item Type:Article
Business groups:Biosecurity Queensland
Additional Information:Breed, Andrew C. Meers, Joanne Sendow, Indrawati Bossart, Katharine N. Barr, Jennifer A. Smith, Ina Wacharapluesadee, Supaporn Wang, Linfa Field, Hume E.
Subjects:Animal culture > Small animal culture
Veterinary medicine > Communicable diseases of animals (General)
Live Archive:01 Nov 2013 06:50
Last Modified:03 Sep 2021 16:49

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