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.