Novel Divergent Polar Bear-Associated Mastadenovirus Recovered from a Deceased Juvenile Polar Bear

• Published in: mSphere
• Main Authors: Dayaram, Anisha, Tsangaras, Kyriakos, Pavulraj, Selvaraj, Azab, Walid, Groenke, Nicole, Wibbelt, Gudrun, Sicks, Florian, Osterrieder, Nikolaus, Greenwood, Alex D.
• Other Authors: Greber, Urs F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2018
• Subjects: polar bear
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00171-18; https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/mSphere.00171-18

Cross-species transmission of viral pathogens is becoming an increasing problem for captive-animal facilities. This study highlights how animals in captivity are vulnerable to novel opportunistic pathogens, many of which do not result in straightforward diagnosis from symptoms and histopathology. In this study, a novel pathogen was suspected to have contributed to the death of a juvenile polar bear. HTS techniques were employed, and a novel Mastadenovirus was isolated. The virus was present in both the tissue and blood samples. Phylogenetic analysis of the virus at both the gene and genome levels revealed that it is highly divergent to other known mastadenoviruses. Overall, this study shows that animals in isolated conditions still come into contact with novel pathogens, and for many of these pathogens, the host reservoir and mode of transmission are yet to be determined.