Henipavirus

Henipavirus is a genus of RNA viruses in the family Paramyxoviridae, order Mononegavirales containing three established species: Hendra virus, Nipah virus and Cedar virus. The henipaviruses are naturally harboured by Pteropid fruit bats (flying foxes) and some microbat species. Henipavirus is characterised by a large genome, a wide host range, and their recent emergence as zoonotic pathogens capable of causing illness and death in domestic animals and humans.

In 2009, RNA sequences of three novel viruses in phylogenetic relationship to known Henipaviruses were detected in Eidolon helvum (the African straw-colored fruit bat) in Ghana. The finding of these novel putative Henipaviruses outside Australia and Asia indicates that the region of potential endemicity of Henipaviruses extends to Africa.

Virus structure

Henipaviruses are pleomorphic (variably shaped), ranging in size from 40 to 600 nm in diameter. They possess a lipid membrane overlying a shell of viral matrix protein. At the core is a single helical strand of genomic RNA tightly bound to N (nucleocapsid) protein and associated with the L (large) and P (phosphoprotein) proteins, which provide RNA polymerase activity during replication.