METHODS: This paper covers detailed explanation on the various developmental and validation process stages of the CAB zoonotic disease questionnaire development. The development phase comprised thorough literature search, focus group discussion, expert panel assessment and review. The validation process included pre-test and pilot testing, data analysis of results, analysis of internal consistency and the development of the final version of the questionnaire. Participants selected represented main ethnicities, gender, levels of education and population type (urban/rural) in the Klang Valley area.
RESULTS: The items in the questionnaire has undergone various changes in structurally and linguistically. The final refined CAB questionnaire consists of 14 items cognitive (no items removed at pilot phase), nine items affective (one item removed at pilot phase) and five items behaviour (no items removed from pre-test phase), respectively. Reliability analysis revealed Cronbach's alpha values were 0.700 (cognitive) and 0.606 (affective) which indicated good internal consistency after item reduction.
CONCLUSIONS: The developed questionnaire has proved its feasibility in assessing the Malaysian general population cognitive, affective and behavior regarding the household pets' zoonotic diseases.
OBJECTIVES: Our study focuses on determining the presence of bat CoVs in dusky fruit bat (Penthetor lucasi).
METHODS: Guano samples belonging to P. lucasi were collected from Wind Cave Nature Reserve. The samples were screened for the presence of CoVs using validated hemi-nested consensus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase consensus primers.
RESULTS: The bat CoV positivity rate was 38.5% (n = 15/39), with the viruses belonging to two subgenera: Alphacoronavirus (α-CoV) and Betacoronavirus (β-CoV). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that CoVs from 14 samples of P. lucasi belong to the genus α-CoV and may represent previously described genetic lineages in insectivorous bats in Wind Cave. However, only one sample of P. lucasi was detected with β-CoV which is closely related to subgenus Nobecovirus, which is commonly seen in frugivorous bats.
CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first available data on CoVs circulating in P. lucasi.