Isolation and Genetic Characterization of a Novel Adenovirus Associated with Mass Mortality in Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo).

High mortality in great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) was registered on the Alakol Lake in eastern Kazakhstan in 2021 when about 20% of juveniles died. High-throughput sequencing revealed the presence of a putative novel cormorant adenovirus significantly divergent from known aviadenoviruses. We suggest that this cormorant adenovirus can be considered an emerging threat to the health and conservation of this species.

Aislamiento y caracterización genética de un nuevo adenovirus asociado con la mortalidad masiva en cormoranes grandes (Phalacrocorax carbo). En 2021 se registró una alta mortalidad de cormoranes grandes (Phalacrocorax carbo) en el lago Alakol, en el este de Kazajstán, cuando murieron alrededor del 20% de las aves jóvenes. La secuenciación de alto rendimiento reveló la presencia de un supuesto nuevo adenovirus de cormorán significativamente divergente de los aviadenovirus conocidos. Sugerimos que este adenovirus de cormorán puede considerarse una amenaza emergente para la salud y conservación de esta especie.

Detection and Phylogenetic Characterization of a Novel Adenovirus Found in Lesser Mouse-Eared Bat (Myotis blythii) in South Kazakhstan.

Bats are an important natural reservoir of various pathogenic microorganisms, and regular monitoring is necessary to track the situation of zoonotic infections. When examining samples from bats in South Kazakhstan, nucleotide sequences of putative novel bat adenovirus (AdV) species were found. Estimates of amino acid identities of the hexon protein have shown that potentially novel Bat mastadenovirus BatAdV-KZ01 shared higher similarity with monkey Rhesus adenovirus 59 (74.29%) than with Bat AdVs E and H (74.00%). Phylogenetically, BatAdV-KZ01 formed a separate clade, distant from Bat AdVs and other mammalian AdVs. Since adenoviruses are essential pathogens for many mammals, including humans and bats, this finding is of interest from both scientific and epidemiological points of view.