In late 1998, Nipah virus emerged in peninsular Malaysia and caused fatal disease in
domestic pigs and humans and substantial economic loss to the local pig industry.
Surveillance of wildlife species during the outbreak showed neutralizing antibodies to Nipah
virus mainly in Island flying-foxes (Pteropus hypomelanus) and Malayan flying-foxes
(Pteropus vampyrus) but no virus reactive with anti-Nipah virus antibodies was isolated. We
adopted a novel approach of collecting urine from these Island flying-foxes and swabs of …