Pteropine orthoreovirus: An important emerging virus causing infectious disease in the tropics?

Introduction. Pteropine orthoreovirus (PRV) is an emerging, zoonotic, respiratory virus that has spilled over from bats to humans. Though initially found only in bats, further case studies have found viable virus in ill patients. Methodology. PubMed was queried with the keywords of “Nelson Bay orthoreovirus” OR Pteropine orthoreovirus OR Melaka orthoreovirus OR Kampar orthoreovirus and returned with a total of 17 hits. Results. Based on prevalence studies, PRV’s presence has been reported in Malaysia and Vietnam, both being developing countries. Other case reports also provide further evidence of PRV’s presence in the South East Asian region. In spite of PRV being absent in their home countries, travellers from Hong Kong and Japan to Indonesia have returned to their countries ill with this virus indicating the potential local communities in Indonesia might be affected by this virus. Conclusions. This paper aims to bring to light this emerging, zoonotic, respiratory virus circulating among developing countries in South East Asia. To better the understanding of the medical and scientific community in the South East Asian region of PRV, the paper introduces the general features, reports of imported PRV, prevalence and clinical features of this virus. Gaps in knowledge about PRV have also been identified in this paper and it is hope that future studies can be undertaken to improve our understanding of this virus.