Abstract
Research on morbillivirus infections has led to exciting developments in recent years. Global measles vaccination coverage has increased, resulting in a significant reduction in measles mortality. In 2011 rinderpest virus was declared globally eradicated – only the second virus to be eradicated by targeted vaccination. Identification of new cellular receptors and implementation of recombinant viruses expressing fluorescent proteins in a range of model systems have provided fundamental new insights into the pathogenesis of morbilliviruses, and their interactions with the host immune system. Nevertheless, both new and well-studied morbilliviruses are associated with significant disease in wildlife and domestic animals. This illustrates the need for robust surveillance and a strategic focus on barriers that restrict cross-species transmission. Recent and ongoing measles outbreaks also demonstrate that maintenance of high vaccination coverage for these highly infectious agents is critical. This introduction briefly summarizes the most important current research topics in this field.
Highlights
The genus Morbillivirus belongs to the virus family Paramyxoviridae, a group of enveloped viruses with non-segmented, negative strand RNA genomes
Two comprehensive reviews of morbillivirus infections in seals and cetaceans can be found in this issue [20,21]
It has become clear that all morbilliviruses initially infect cells of the immune system, before they spread to epithelial, endothelial and/or neuronal cells
Summary
The genus Morbillivirus belongs to the virus family Paramyxoviridae, a group of enveloped viruses with non-segmented, negative strand RNA genomes. It contains viruses that are highly infectious, spread via the respiratory route, cause profound immune suppression, and have a propensity to cause large. In populations with endemic virus circulation, the epidemiology changes to that of a childhood disease, as hosts that survive the infection normally develop lifelong immunity. Measles virus (MV) is the prototype morbillivirus, and causes disease in primates. Rinderpest virus (RPV) is closely related to MV and used to cause severe disease in cattle. A newly described virus of cats was named feline morbillivirus (FmoPV) [3]. Sequences of a morbillivirus endogenous to neotropical vampire bats were found in Brazil, potentially representing a new member of the genus Morbillivirus [4]. The detection of short sequences does not equate to the presence of infectious virus, and efforts should be made to isolate pathogens where possible
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