An Apparently New Virus (Family Paramyxoviridae) Infectious for Pigs, Humans, and Fruit Bats

• DOI: 10.3201/eid0402.980214
• Publication Date: 2009-08-24T14:28:24Z
• Authors: Adrian W. Philbey; Peter D. Kirkland; Anthony D. Ross; Rodney J. Davis; Anne B. Gleeson; Robert J. Love; Peter W. Daniels; Allan R. Gould; Alex D. Hyatt
• Keywords: Swine Diseases; 0301 basic medicine; Paramyxoviridae Infections; Swine; Australia; R; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Antibodies, Viral; Agricultural Workers' Diseases; 3. Good health; Microscopy, Electron; 03 medical and health sciences; Pregnancy; Chiroptera; Paramyxoviridae; Medicine; Animals; Humans; Female; New South Wales; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; Fetal Death

We isolated an apparently new virus in the family Paramyxoviridae from stillborn piglets with deformities at a piggery in New South Wales, Australia. In 1997, the pregnancy rate and litter size at the piggery decreased markedly, while the proportion of mummified fetuses increased. We found serologic evidence of infection in pigs at the affected piggery and two associated piggeries, in humans exposed to infected pigs, and in fruit bats. Menangle virus is proposed as a common name for this agent, should further studies confirm that it is a newly recognized virus.