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First posted online 19 May 2000 ARTICLE ABSTRACT
Rec 10 March 2000; Acc 20 April 2000 DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.17031-0

Isolation of Hendra virus from pteropid bats: a natural reservoir of Hendra virus

K. Halpin,1,2 P. L. Young,3 H. E. Field2 and J. S. Mackenzie1

1 Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
2 Department of Primary Industries, Animal Research Institute, 665 Fairfield Road, Yeerongpilly, Queensland 4105, Australia
3 Queensland Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Gehrmann Laboratories, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia

Since it was first described in Australia in 1994, Hendra virus (HeV) has caused two outbreaks of fatal disease in horses and humans, and an isolated fatal horse case. Our preliminary studies revealed a high prevalence of neutralizing antibodies to HeV in bats of the genus Pteropus, but it was unclear whether this was due to infection with HeV or a related virus. We developed the hypothesis that HeV excretion from bats might be related to the birthing process and we targeted the reproductive tract for virus isolation. Three virus isolates were obtained from the uterine fluid and a pool of foetal lung and liver from one grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), and from the foetal lung of one black flying-fox (P. alecto). Antigenically, these isolates appeared to be closely related to HeV, returning positive results on immunofluorescent antibody staining and constant-serum varying-virus neutralization tests. Using an HeV-specific oligonucleotide primer pair, genomic sequences of the isolates were amplified. Sequencing of 200 nucleotides in the matrix gene identified that these three isolates were identical to HeV. Isolations were confirmed after RNA extracted from original material was positive for HeV RNA when screened on an HeV Taqman assay. The isolation of HeV from pteropid bats corroborates our earlier serological and epidemiological evidence that they are a natural reservoir host of the virus.

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This article is now available in the August 2000 print issue of JGV (vol. 81, 1927–1932). The complete issue of the journal may be seen in electronic form on JGV Online.