Both HeV-sG and NiV-sG could elicit a completely protective immune response against a lethal subcutaneous NiV challenge (NiV-Malaysia isolate) (Mungall et al. viral envelope glycoproteins. 1 Introduction Hendra computer virus (HeV) and Nipah computer virus (NiV) are recently identified members of the family (Eaton et al. 2007). The henipaviruses are distinguished from all other paramyxoviruses Itraconazole (Sporanox) Itraconazole (Sporanox) particularly by their broad species tropism and in addition to bats can infect and cause fatal disease in multiple vertebrate hosts including humans, monkeys, pigs, Mouse monoclonal to EPCAM horses, cats, dogs, ferrets, hamsters, and guinea pigs, spanning six mammalian Orders (Bossart et al. 2009; Geisbert et al. 2010; Guillaume et al. 2009; Hooper et al. 1997b, 2001; Li et al. 2010; Marianneau et al. 2010; Middleton et al. 2007; Mungall et al. 2006; Rockx et al. 2010, 2011; Weingartl et al. 2005; Westbury et al. 1995, 1996; Wong et al. 2003). HeV appeared first in eastern Australia in 1994 and was transmitted to humans from infected horses (examined in Murray et al. 1998); NiV later emerged in 1998C1999 in peninsular Malaysia and was primarily transmitted to humans from infected pigs, but several other animal species also became infected (examined in Bishop and Itraconazole (Sporanox) Broder 2008; Eaton et al. 2006). Thus, both viruses may be amplified and cause disease in animals and may in turn be transmitted to humans, where infection is usually manifested as a severe respiratory illness and/or febrile encephalitis with associated high case fatality rates (Selvey et al. 1995; Tan and Wong 2003; Wong et al. 2002). Since their acknowledgement in the mid to late 1990s, both HeV and NiV have continued to re-emerge. Occasional outbreaks of HeV occurred in the years immediately following its appearance in 1994, but in 2006 HeV began to cause spillover events on an annual basis with all occurring in horses in Australia and a total of seven human cases of which four have been fatal (Anonymous 2009; Playford et al. 2010). In 2011, however, (June to October) the dynamics of HeV spillover events changed considerably, and an unprecedented 18 impartial outbreaks of HeV among horses in Australia were recorded, leading to the death or euthanasia of 23 horses, one doggie and the monitoring of more than 60 people for possible HeV contamination (Anonymous 2011; Smith et al. 2011). There has also been a somewhat amazing early appearance of HeV contamination in a horse reported in the first week of January, 2012 (Anonymous 2012a). There have now been a total of 33 individual occurrences of HeV spillover and contamination of horses since 1994 in Queensland and New South Wales. Similarly, nearly annual outbreaks of NiV contamination, primarily in Bangladesh but also including India, have occurred since 2001 (13 total) since NiV was first recognized from your Malaysian outbreak in 1998. These events have been associated with significantly higher case fatality rates (ranging from 10 to 100%) Itraconazole (Sporanox) among the people that have been infected since 2001 following the first outbreak in 1998. To date, there have been a total of 570 reported cases of NiV contamination in people of which 305 have been fatal (examined in Luby et al. 2009; Pallister et al. 2011a; Anonymous 2012b). The natural hosts of HeV and NiV have been identified as several species of fruit bats (flying foxes) in the genus (Chua et al. 2002; Field et al. 2007; Halpin et al. 2000). Even though spillovers and outbreaks of HeV and NiV have all been limited to Australia and Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India; respectively, accumulating serological and limited nucleic acid evidence among a variety of different species of bats suggests that at least antigenically related henipaviruses are circulating in other regions including Thailand, Indonesia, China, Madagascar, and West Africa (Drexler et al. 2009; Hayman et al. 2008; Iehle et al. 2007; Li et al. 2008; Sendow et al. 2006, 2010; Wacharapluesadee et al. 2005). In addition, serological evidence (cross-reactive antibodies to NiV glycoproteins) has also suggested the apparent transmission of some antigenically related henipaviruses to domestic pigs in West Africa is possible (Hayman et al. 2011). The routes of transmission to humans are also notably different for the henipaviruses, with HeV being transmitted from bats to horses and then to humans, whereas NiV transmission has included transmissions from bats to pigs and then to humans, from bats to humans and from humans to human (Bishop and Broder 2008; Field et al. 2010; Gurley et al. 2007; Homaira et al. 2010; Luby et al. 2009). The unusually broad species tropism and highly pathogenic capacity of HeV and NiV, together with their uniquely large genome size led to their classification into the new genus henipavirus in the family (Lamb et al. 2005)..