Investigation of a Potential Zoonotic Transmission of Orthoreovirus Associated with Acute Influenza-Like Illness in an Adult Patient

Bats are increasingly being recognized as important reservoir hosts for a large number of viruses, some of them can be highly virulent when they infect human and livestock animals. Among the new bat zoonotic viruses discovered in recent years, several reoviruses (respiratory enteric orphan viruses) were found to be able to cause acute respiratory infections in humans, which included Melaka and Kampar viruses discovered in Malaysia, all of them belong to the genus Orthoreovirus, family Reoviridae. In this report, we describe the isolation of a highly related virus from an adult patient who suffered acute respiratory illness in Malaysia. Although there was no direct evidence of bat origin, epidemiological study indicated the potential exposure of the patient to bats before the onset of disease. The current study further demonstrates that spillover events of different strains of related orthoreoviruses from bats to humans are occurring on a regular basis, which calls for more intensive and systematic surveillances to fully assess the true public health impact of these newly discovered bat-borne zoonotic reoviruses

Comparison of sequence identity and size (aa residues) of PRV7S S-encoded proteins to those of PRV6XR, PRV5HK, PRV4K, PRV3M, PRV2P and PRV1NB.

<p>*NA: sequence not available.</p

Titer of anti-PRV7S antibodies in the sera of the patient and his family members.

<p>Titer of anti-PRV7S antibodies in the sera of the patient and his family members.</p

List of known strains of <i>Pteropine orthoreovirus</i> (PRV).

<p>List of known strains of <i>Pteropine orthoreovirus</i> (PRV).</p

Antibody titer in patients' convalescent serum samples against each of the four PRV strains isolated in Malaysia.

<p>*IgG titer was determined by immunofluorescence antibody test using fixed MDCK cells infected with each of the four viruses; neutralizing titer was determined using the micro-neutralization test with 100 TCID₅₀ for each of the four viruses.</p>#<p>Sampling time, expressed as days after onset of symptoms, is indicated for each serum.</p

Comparison of genome segment profiles between PRV3M and PRV7S.

<p>The genome segments were separated in a 10% SDS-polyarylamide gel. The classes of genome segments (L, M and S) are labeled on the right. The asterisk (*) indicates co-migrating bands and the open arrow (>) indicates cognate segments of the two viruses with a different mobility.</p