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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Standard Operating Procedure for Lyssavirus Surveillance of the Bat Population in Taiwan
Published on: August 27, 2019
Discovery of herpesviruses in bats
Gudrun Wibbelt1, Andreas Kurth2, Nezlisah Yasmum2
1Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Wildlife Diseases - Pathology, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Seven novel gammaherpesviruses (GHV) and one novel betaherpesvirus were discovered in seven different European bat species (order Chiroptera, family Vespertilionidae) with a pan-herpesvirus PCR assay, targeting the DNA polymerase (DPOL) gene. The sequences of six bat GHV were similarly related to members of the gammaherpesvirus genera Percavirus and Rhadinovirus. The seventh GHV was related to the porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus 1 (genus Macavirus). The betaherpesvirus appeared to be a distant relative of human cytomegalovirus. For three bat GHV a 3.6 kbp locus was amplified and sequenced, spanning part of the glycoprotein B gene and the majority of the DPOL gene. In phylogenetic analysis, the three bat GHV formed a separate clade with similar distance to the Percavirus and Rhadinovirus clades. These novel viruses are the first herpesviruses to be described in bats.
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