magboi virus magboi virus magboi virus (mgbv) is a novel, bat-borne orthohantavirus discovered in a slit-faced bat trapped near the magboi stream in eastern sierra leone in 2011. it is a single-stranded, negative sense, rna virus in the bunyavirales order. magboi virus virus classification group: group v ((−)ssrna) order: bunyavirales family: hantaviridae genus: orthohantavirus species: magboi virus molecular virology the discovery represented the first time a hantavirus was detected in a bat, although bats as a reservoir for hantavirus had been long suspected. on the basis of a maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree, the sequence isolated from the magboi river bat does not cluster with rodent-associated hantaviruses but groups with those found in shrews and moles. this raises the question of the real hantavirus host range. bats are already known to harbor a broad variety of emerging pathogens, including other bunyaviruses. their ability to fly and social life history enable efficient pathogen maintenance, evolution, and spread.