one of four new viruses that emerged around the same time from this single group of bats, the pteropids. Soon after Hendra virus made its debut north of Brisbane, in 1994, there was Australian bat lyssavirus, appearing at two other sites along the Queensland coast, in 1996; then Menangle virus, emerging near Sydney, in 1997; and then Nipah virus, up in Malaysia, in September 1998. “For four viruses to emerge from one host genus within a short period of time is unprecedented,” she said. “So we feel there’s been some change in the ecology of Pteropus species that could precipitate disease
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