Paramyxoviruses in rodents: A review

Abstract

Paramyxoviruses have been shown to infect a wide range of hosts, including rodents, and humans. Several novel murine paramyxoviruses have been  discovered in the last several decades. Although these viruses are unclassified, they are recognized as Beilong virus, Mojiang virus (MojV), and Tailam  virus in rats, Jeilongvirus, Nariva, Paju Apodemus paramyxovirus-1 and -2 in mice, and Pentlands paramyxovirus-1, -2, and -3 in squirrels. These  paramyxoviruses were reported mainly in China and a few other countries like Australia, the Republic of Korea, Trinidad, and France. In June 2012, it  becomes a great concern in China whereby, three miners were reported dead potentially caused by a novel zoonotic MojV, a henipa-like virus isolated  from tissue samples of rats from the same cave. Rats are considered to be natural hosts for the MojV from the literature research. The classified  paramyxovirus, Sendai virus in rodents is also reviewed. Paramyxoviruses infection in rodents leads to respiratory distress such as necrotizing rhinitis,  tracheitis, bronchiolitis, and interstitial pneumonia. Infections caused by paramyxoviruses often spread between species, manifesting disease in spillover  hosts, including humans. This review focuses on the paramyxoviruses in rodents, including the epidemiological distributions, transmission and  pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnostic methods, and control and prevention of paramyxoviruses infection to provide a better understanding of  these highly mutating viruses