[CholeraJoe]

Mother Abigail's post is correct. Paramyxoviruses are everywhere. This family includes Respiratory Syncitial Virus, Mumps, Parainfluenza and Measles. I'm thinking red herring.

[xsmommy]

so, bottom line,what?

[vetvetdoug]

This virus has the pathogenicity and symptoms of the Hendra Virus. Last month I attended a seminar about Foreign Animal Diseases taught by a former researcher at Plum Island and she taught the Hendra virus' effects upon horses, cats and humans in depth. The virus is respiratory in transmission and lethal within hours after the host contracts the disease. What was unique about this virus is that it was transmitted from horses to man, man to horses, man to cats and vice versa. The virus is endemic in 80% of all fruit bats tested (which means I breathe easy when I go to a zoo with fruit bats; they don't test for this). If this is a paramyxovirus and similar to the Hendra, it will be interesting to find out if the virus has a natural reservoir or is a mutant that is a brand new virus.

I just love infectious diseases and virology, it is so exciting and interesting to see a new disease emerge and get diagnosed and characterized.