Zoonotic potential of a novel bat morbillivirus


The resreach has identified and characterized a novel morbillivirus from a vespertilionid bat species (Myotis riparius) in Brazil - myotis bat morbillivirus (MBaMV). 
MBaMV replicated efficiently in primary human myeloid but not lymphoid cells. 
MBaMV replicated in human epithelial cells and used human NECTIN4 almost as well as measles virus (MeV. 
The results demonstrates the unusual ability of MBaMV to infect and replicate in some human cells that are critical for measles virus (MeV) pathogenesis and transmission. 
This raises the specter of zoonotic transmission of a bat morbillivirus.


Method to isolate bat morbillivirus sequence

The bat surveillance was conducted in the Amazon region of Brazil. The bat was captured by mist net, then oral, rectal, and urogenital swabs were all collected for RNA extraction. 

This study was supported in part by NIH grants AI123449, AI071002, AI149033, AI140442, AI134768 , and USAID PREDICT 
This work was also supported by Japan Agent for Medical Research and Development (AMED) Grant 20wm0325002h, JSPS KAKENHi Grant Numbers 20H03497 and Joint Usage/Research Center program of institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University.