Identification of novel paramyxoviruses in insectivorous bats of the Southwest

Bats are reservoirs for many emerging zoonotic viruses. In this study, we screened 197 animals from 15differentbatspeciesoftheSouthwestIndianOceanforparamyxovirusinfectionandidentifiedparamyx-oviruses in five insectivorous bat-species from the Union of the Comoros (3/66), Mauritius (1/55) andMadagascar (4/76). Viral isolation was possible via cell culture and phylogenetic analysis revealed theseviruses clusteredinaMorbillivirus-relatedlineage,withrelativelyhighnucleotidesequencesimilaritytoother recently discovered insectivorous-bat paramyxoviruses but distinct from those known to circulatein frugivorous bats.© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.