Infectome analysis of #bat #kidneys from #Yunnan province, #China, reveals novel #henipaviruses related to #Hendra and #Nipah viruses and prevalent bacterial and eukaryotic microbes, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2025/06/infectome-analysis-of-bat-kidneys-from.html
#Henipaviruses
Genetic Diversity and #Geographic #Spread of #Henipaviruses, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2025/02/genetic-diversity-and-geographic-spread.html
@kimlockhartga Yikes!
"#Henipaviruses belong to the family of paramyxoviruses. Two species have been identified to be zoonotic, causing disease in animals. These are the #Hendra virus (HeV) and the #Nipah virus (#NiV). They produce severe and often fatal illness in #humans and #horses.
"HeV infection in horses, and then in humans, was first reported in 1994 in Australia. In contrast, NiV infection was first observed in pigs and subsequently in humans in 1998, in Malaysia. In Bangladesh, henipavirus infection was traced independently of contact with infected animals.
"Fruit bats (Pteropus species, also called ‘flying foxes’) are the natural hosts of henipaviruses. The Hendra virus is probably transmitted to horses, which are the main intermediate hosts, through the ingestion of food contaminated with the droppings, urine or other excretions of infected fruit bats. The bats themselves do not show any clinical signs of illness. Transmission of HeV to man occurs through close contact with infected horses, probably through their respiratory secretions and urine.
"NiV is carried from pigs, which are the main intermediate hosts, to humans, via aerosols, or direct contact with infected respiratory secretions, saliva or urine, or surfaces contaminated by these secretions. Pigs may have acquired the infection via fruits half-eaten by bats, and contaminated by the virus. Other possible intermediate hosts are dogs, cats, horses and goats.
"In some cases NiV transmission has been independent of direct contact with livestock, through the ingestion of sap from the date palm, which was contaminated by bat excretions. In other cases the NiV infection was transmitted from the infected excretions of pigs to abattoir and farm workers in contact with the animals. A high rate of human to human spread by NiV was seen in an outbreak in Bangladesh, unlike earlier outbreaks in Malaysia.
"The disease manifests in 4-20 days or 5-12 days, for HeV and NiV infection respectively. It presents as fever with acute encephalitis, or as an acute influenza-like illness leading to severe respiratory illness, or as meningitis. The mortality ranges from 40-70% for NiV infection, and 50% with HeV. It is highest among those with acute encephalitis. Survivors have severe residual disabilities, such as incoordination, muscular weakness and difficulty with thought processing and mental functions. Others show paralysis of the eye muscles, with resultant visual problems.
"Encephalitis in HeV infection presents as motor weakness, confusion and disorientation, or seizures. In NiV infection, there may be fever, vomiting, headache, dizziness and loss of consciousness. Rising heart rates or blood pressure, kidney impairment, bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract, septicemia, and convulsions, are also seen.
"Why are henipaviruses so deadly? The answer lies in their ability to encode several proteins which block the innate immune response in infected animals and humans. These inhibit the cell’s response to viral infection, and allow viral replication. These thus act as virulence factors, blocking the interferon-stimulated antiviral defense mechanisms from kicking in inside the infected cells. The virus causes destruction of small blood vessels in many major organs, such as the brain, liver and kidney, causing organ failure. This is associated with microinfarction, infection, and organ failure.
[...]
"Treatment is symptomatic, and no vaccine or antiviral drug has been developed so far to treat the disease. Prevention is by ensuring #HeV vaccination of all horses in risk situations, as well as minimal human contact with fruit bats, isolation of sick animals, precautions against direct contact with infected secretions and excretions and extensive culling of animals confirmed to have the infection."
https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Henipavirus.aspx
Tetracistronic #minigenomes elucidate a functional promoter for #Ghana virus and unveils #Cedar virus #replicase promiscuity for all #henipaviruses
Source: Journal of Virology, ABSTRACTBatborne henipaviruses, such as Nipah and Hendra viruses, represent a major threat to global health due to their propensity for spillover, severe pathogenicity, and high mortality rate in human hosts. Coupled with the absence of approved vaccines or therapeutics, work with the…
#introduction
Hi all. I'm just starting to explore mastadon. I'm a #diseaseecologist who studies #zoonotic #viruses in wildlife and how they #spillover into livestock and people. I work for a science-based nonprofit called EcoHealth Alliance. My research focuses on #bats and their associated #henipaviruses, #coronaviruses and #filoviruses in Asia and Africa.
Hendra virus explained ― ABC News (Australia)
#HendraHenipavirus #Henipaviruses #HendraVirusDisease #SevereViralDiseases
I remember this during the 2011 simultaneous Hendra Virus Disease outbreaks throughout Queensland and New South Wales the news that a dog tested positive for the virus freaked a lot of people out giving the virus has a 60% mortality in humans, 70% for horses infected. (for reference Ebola Virus Disease usually sits around 50-55% mortality).
People often joke about Australia being deadly as hell but this virus definitely contributes to the arguement that the jokes are actually somewhat serious.
Hendra virus spreads to canine ― ABC News (Australia)
I find it incredibly weird that some tend to include the Paramyxoviridae (Parainfluenza) family, genus henipavirus in the category of Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers, like yes Hendra henipavirus and Nipah henipavirus both are slightly more lethal than Ebolaviruses and Marburgviruses but if anyone is going to haemorrhage during Hendra Virus Disease (the film Contagion bases its virus on this one) it is going to be into the lungs, and the primary threat is fulminant encephalomeningitis or kidney failure, it isn't systemically haemorrhagic like the classical (Dengue, Yellow fever, mainly Flaviviridae) and severe (Ebola, Marburg, Lassa) VHFs.
#Virology #SevereViralDiseases #ViralHaemorrhagicFevers #HendraHenipavirus #NipahHenipavirus #Ebolaviruses #Marburgviruses #Filoviridae #Paramyxoviridae #Henipaviruses #Flaviviridae #LassaArennavirus
Did you know Hendra henipavirus isn't the only Level 4 Biosafety virus in Austrania capable of causing outbreaks.
There is actually a rather famous virus which while unlikely to jump to causing outbreaks in Australia does still exist within its resevoir host which range includes Australia.
Ebola virus and Marburg virus both live in certain species of Bat (kind of like how bats also carry Hendra) and some of these species can be found in Australia (particularly the Northern Areas). Though the chances of them causing an outbreak is slim because while bushmeat is still a thing for some communities it isn't as widespread as in Africa and some of South Asia, also it is a small area for which it could jump into another organism.
Of the Four genera of filoviridae that are batborne they've been found on 3 continents (Europe, Africa, and Asia, though when it comes to bats it does include Australia as they don't have far to move to Indonesia, then to New Guinea, then to Cape York Australia).
Also the Reston Virus (Reston ebolavirus) is also in the environment in the Philippines though while this virus is non-pathogenic to humans it has caused outbreaks in pigs in Manilla in the Philippines which had no contact with primates indicating they likely got it directly from bats and that is fairly close to Indonesia and New Guinea as well.
#Ebolaviruses #Marburgviruses #HendraHenipavirus #Henipaviruses #Biosafety #Filoviridae #RestonEbolavirus #SevereViralHaemorrhagicFevers #SevereViralDiseases
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.04
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst