Description A collaborative team of scientists from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and the Australian Animal Health Laboratory have demonstrated an important biological feature of the deadly Nipah virus that can infect and kill both animals and humans. Newswise — A collaborative team of scientists from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) here, and the Australian Animal Health Laboratory have demonstrated an important biological feature of the deadly Nipah virus that can infect and kill both animals and humans. Christopher Broder, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at USU, along with his Australian colleagues, reported the first experimental evidence that Nipah virus can be vertically transmitted in cats, a naturally infected animal host which also consistently exhibits characteristic disease pathology caused by Nipah virus. Earlier work by this same group of investigators developed a vaccine based on a component of the virus known as the G glycoprotein which demonstrated complete protection from infection by Nipah virus in the cat model. Nipah virus and its closely related cousin Hendra virus (henipaviruses) are recently emerged viral pathogens and both agents are restricted to the highest level of containment; biosafety level (BSL)-4 and considered to be potential biological terror agents. Since then, several Nipah virus outbreaks have been reported between 2001 and 2007 taking greater than 80 lives in Bangladesh and India and these more recent outbreaks have involved person-to-person transmission and have demonstrated a higher incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome and higher case-fatality rates between 60%-75%. read more

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