Isolation of multiple novel paramyxoviruses from pteropid bat urine

Abstract

Bats have been found to harbor a number of new emerging viruses with zoonotic potential and there has been a great deal of interest in identifying novel bat pathogens to determine risk to human and animal health. Many groups have identified novel viruses in bats by detection of viral nucleic acid, however virus isolation is still a challenge and there are few reports of viral isolates from bats. In recent years, our group has developed optimized procedures for virus isolation from bat urine, including the use of primary bat cells. In previous reports we have described the isolation of Hendra virus, Menangle virus and Cedar virus, in Queensland, Australia. Here, we report the isolation of four additional novel bat paramyxoviruses from urine collected from beneath pteropid bat (flying fox) colonies in Queensland and New South Wales during 2009-2011.