Distinct Lineage of Vesiculovirus from Big Brown Bats, United States

Abstract

We identified a novel rhabdovirus, American bat vesiculovirus, from postmortem tissue samples from 120 rabies-negative big brown bats with a history of human contact. Five percent of the tested bats were infected with this virus. The extent of zoonotic exposure and possible health effects in humans from this virus are unknown.

Keywords

• Rhabdoviridae
• vesiculovirus
• viral metagenomic
• bat
• virus discovery
• big brown bats