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