Pteropox infection in a juvenile grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus)

Abstract

A juvenile grey-headed flying fox (GHFF) (Pteropus poliocephalus) presented to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital after a wildlife carer found the animal hanging on the outside of an aviary. On presentation, the animal was emaciated and moribund with disseminated, multifocal, depigmented and proliferative lesions on the wing membranes and skin of the neck. Histopathology revealed multiple, well-circumscribed proliferative epidermal lesions with intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies. A poxvirus was identified via transmission electron microscopy and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Analysis of sequences obtained demonstrated 99% nucleotide identity to Pteropox virus strain Australia (GenBank KU980965). To the authors' knowledge, this paper describes the first case of Pteropox virus infection in a GHFF.