Tioman virus is a paramyxovirus first isolated from the urine of island

fruit bat Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera. They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera ''Acerodon'' and ''Pteropus''—flying foxes. They are the only member of the superfamil ...

s (''Pteropus hypomelanus'') on

Tioman Island Tioman Island () is , off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, more specifically off the east coast of Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is long and wide and has seven villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Tekek on the ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

in 2000. The

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

was discovered during efforts to identify the natural host of

Nipah virus Nipah virus (''Henipavirus nipahense'') is a bat-borne, Zoonosis, zoonotic virus that causes Nipah virus infection in humans and other animals, a disease with a very high mortality rate (40-75%). Numerous disease outbreaks caused by Nipah virus ...

which was responsible for a large outbreak of encephalitic illness in humans and pigs in Malaysia and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in 1998–99.

Taxonomy

Tioman virus is antigenically related to Menangle virus which is also harboured by Pteropid fruit bats and caused an outbreak of foetal deformities in pigs in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1997.

Clinical importance

Although there is no evidence that Tioman virus can cause illness in humans or animals, its close relationship to other disease-causing paramyxoviruses (

Hendra virus Hendra virus (''Henipavirus hendraense'') is a zoonotic virus found solely in Australia. First isolated in 1994, the virus has since been connected to numerous outbreaks of disease in domestic horses and seven human cases. Hendra virus belongs to ...

, Menangle virus,

) suggests the possibility that it may cause disease upon crossing the species barrier. The recent emergence of a number of

zoonotic A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When h ...

bat-borne viruses in the Asia-Pacific region also demonstrates that conditions are increasingly favouring this type of event.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tioman Virus Rubulaviruses