Introduction
Recently, the rustrela virus (RusV; species Rubivirus strelense ) has been described as a new fatal pathogen of different zoo and wild animal species (Bennett et al., 2020a, 2020b; Pfaff et al., 2022). Before the discovery of RusV and its relative ruhugu virus (RuhV;Rubivirus ruteetense ) (Bennett et al., 2020b), rubella virus (RuV; Rubivirus rubellae ), the cause of “German measles” in humans (Lambert et al., 2015), was the sole member of the genusRubivirus , family Matonaviridae (Rubing Chen, 2018). The highly contagious RuV occurs worldwide, however, is restricted to humans (Lambert et al., 2015).
So far, there are only individual reports of RusV infections associated with fatal non-suppurative meningoencephalitis in a donkey (Equus asinus ), a capybara (Hydrochoeris hydrochaeris ), a red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus ), and a South American coati (Nasua nasua ) all originating from the same zoo in northern Germany as well as a wild Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra ) from the proximity of this zoo. The virus was also detected in brain tissues of wild, yellow-necked field mice (Apodemus flavicollis ), which had been collected in the vicinity of the zoo and did not exhibit detectable encephalitis (Bennett et al., 2020a, 2020b; Pfaff et al., 2022).
The knowledge on this new pathogen and the disease associated with the infection is limited so far. The full host range and the geographic distribution of the virus are unknown and the clinical and pathological data are limited. However, this information is of high importance for a suitable risk management and prevention strategies.
Here, we describe the clinical symptoms and pathology of three new cases of affected red-necked wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus) from different locations in northeastern Germany.