Potential Pathogens Reported in Species of the Family Viverridae and Their Implications for Human and Animal Health

Wicker, L. V.; Canfield, P. J.; Higgins, D. P.

No attempt has yet been made to collate the current knowledge of potential pathogens detected from species within the family Viverridae (Shepherd, 2008; Bongiovanni et al., 2014) despite the family's long history of exploitation for human consumption (Abebe, 2003; Shepherd and Shepherd, 2010) , the management of threatened viverrids for conservation (Roberton et al., 2002) , the peri-urban habitation of many species within the family (King et al., 1993; Ninomiya et al., 2003; Sato et al., 2013) and their susceptibility to a number of important zoonotic pathogens including the novel coronavirus responsible for the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (Guan et al., 2003; Tu, 2004) , rabies virus (Matsumoto et al., 2011) and highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) (Roberton et al., 2006) . While many organisms have been identified in a very wide range of viverrid species globally, this information is scattered throughout the scientific and grey literature. An accessible list of organisms isolated from viverrids does not currently exist.