BACKGROUND:Emerging and re-emerging arboviral infections are a risk to blood safety. We conducted an international survey on how blood establishments respond to current and future arbovirus threats. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:A questionnaire on arbovirus donor deferral strategies, pathogen reduction, and donation screening was distributed to members of the International Society of Blood Transfusion working party on transfusion-transmitted infectious diseases. Data from 2024 were gathered and analyzed. RESULTS:A total of 23 survey responses were received from 21 countries. This covered a population of 1.45 billion people and 29.9 million blood donations collected in 2024. All respondents applied travel-based donor deferrals, whereas pathogen reduction, implemented by half of the respondents, was mostly applied for a selection of plasma and platelet donations. West Nile virus (WNV) was the only arbovirus blood donations were screened for by nine respondents from eight countries, with 256 donations confirmed as WNV RNA-positive in 2024. No transfusion-transmitted WNV infections were reported. DISCUSSION:Blood safety measures remain limited and unevenly distributed globally, and in their present form, are unlikely to provide protection against the growing range of emerging arboviruses. Donor deferral may not always be a sustainable blood safety strategy alone for all blood operators, due to large-scale outbreaks associated with these viruses. While pathogen reduction methodologies are being developed to be applied to all blood components, risk assessments for (re)-emerging arboviruses, such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses, should be performed to determine if additional mitigation, such as blood donation screening, is warranted.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:The For the Assessment of Individualized Risk (FAIR) framework, introduced by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in 2021, aims to reduce stigma and improve equity in blood donor selection, particularly for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). While pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective at preventing sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus, its declared use excludes individuals from blood donation. This study examined PrEP use among male blood donors with current or past syphilis in England to evaluate guideline compliance and implications for blood safety. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Residual plasma samples from syphilis-positive male blood donors collected in 2023 were tested for PrEP. These data were combined with two previous studies of syphilis-positive donors conducted between July 2018 and June 2024, incorporating demographics and reported PrEP use. RESULTS:The rate of syphilis-positive blood donations increased from 4.09 to 10.32 per 100,000 donations between 2018 and 2024 (p = 0.048, Mann-Kendall trend test) with a rising proportion of past syphilis cases attributed to GBMSM (18%-37%; p = 0.004, Fisher's test, p = 0.001 Mann-Kendall test); 7.1% of syphilis-positive blood samples from male blood donors tested positive for PrEP in 2023, indicating frequent non-compliance with donation guidelines. CONCLUSION:Persistent PrEP use among syphilis-positive donors since 2018 suggests gaps in donor education regarding eligibility. Targeted public health interventions, particularly for younger GBMSM, are needed to strengthen sexual health education, PrEP messaging and awareness of donation criteria. Further research into other infections associated with high-risk sexual behaviour is warranted.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Bacterial contamination of blood components is an ongoing problem in transfusion medicine. We analysed the bacterial screening data of platelets from England, 2014-2023, and compared this with data on reported near-misses and transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs). MATERIALS AND METHODS:Anonymized data on bacterial screening of pooled and apheresis platelet donations were reviewed, including the number of donations collected yearly, results from bacterial screening and time from sampling to detection. The findings were compared with data on near-misses and TTIs reported during the same period. RESULTS:Screening of 1249,513 apheresis and 1,495,707 pooled platelet donations identified bacterial contamination in 2949 donations, including 78 bacterial species. Over four-fold higher frequency of confirmed bacterial contamination was observed in pooled platelets compared to apheresis donations (0.09% [1096/1,249,513] vs. 0.02% [362/1,495,707], p < 0.0001). Rates of bacterial contamination of pooled platelet doubled during the study period. Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly detected highly pathogenic bacterial contaminant (29/147, 19.7%; 15/29, 52% in apheresis platelets). It was also implicated in 1 confirmed case of bacterial TTI and in 8 of 10 reported bacterial near-miss cases. CONCLUSION:Increasing frequencies of bacterial contamination, mostly related to skin flora, were noted in pooled platelets. Furthermore, S. aureus was notably associated with near-miss events. Our findings demonstrate a limitation of bacterial screening, with evidence of bacterial growth after platelets were likely supplied for clinical use.

This multicentre study investigated the utility of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to detect and generate hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes in samples of low viral load (from 0.2 to 6207 IU/mL). 23 HBV DNA-positive plasma samples of genotypes A-E and one HBV-negative control sample were assayed blindly via 9 established NGS methods from 6 European laboratories. Methods included untargeted metagenomics, pre-enrichment by probe-capture followed by Illumina sequencing, and HBV-specific PCR pre-amplification followed by sequencing with Nanopore or Illumina. Full HBV genomes were obtained only from samples with viral loads > 1000 IU/mL using probe-capture methods, > 200 IU/mL using PCR-Illumina methods, > 10 IU/mL using PCR-Nanopore methods, and in no samples using metagenomic methods. Contamination was observed in the negative control and samples with very low viral loads in PCR-based methods. Probe-capture and metagenomic methods detected additional viruses not routinely screened in blood donations, including polyomaviruses and herpesviruses; positive results were confirmed by PCR. In conclusion, NGS may delineate whole-genome sequences at low viral loads if supported by a PCR pre-amplification step. Probe-capture methods also reliably detect HBV without pre-amplification but show limited genome coverage for samples with low viral loads; they may additionally detect a wide range of blood-borne viruses.

Enteroviruses (EVs) are a common cause of a wide spectrum of infectious diseases, ranging from mild respiratory illnesses to severe neurological conditions, particularly affecting children. Current molecular methods, such as 5'UTR-based PCR for detection and (partial) VP1 gene sequencing for typing, are widely utilized. However, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), and bioinformatics offer a comprehensive alternative, enabling full-genome analyses for improved virus characterization, genomic epidemiological surveillance, and outbreak investigation. Despite its advantages, implementation of NGS poses challenges, particularly in standardizing and optimizing laboratory workflows (wet-lab) and bioinformatics analyses (dry-lab), methods that are not often readily accessible in many laboratories. Here, we discuss the potential of NGS as a tool for EV detection/characterization in clinical virology, public health, and research settings. We provide practical options for actions for implementing NGS to advance the understanding and management of enterovirus infections. These recommendations are based on expert discussions during the recent European non-polio enterovirus network (ENPEN) workshop held in Corfu, Greece, on 23-24 May 2024, aiming to guide harmonization of NGS practices across clinical, public health, and research settings.

The evolutionary history of simian and prosimian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs and pSIVs) remains difficult to resolve, because divergence-time estimates from standard clock analyses using contemporary sequences conflict with palaeovirological and biogeographical evidence. One proposed explanation is that inferred substitution rates decline with increasing timescale, a pattern known as the time-dependent rate phenomenon. Here, we apply the Prisoner of War model, which maps genetic divergence to time under a mechanistic model of time-dependent rate decay, to reconstruct the evolutionary history of primate lentiviruses. Using non-recombinant genomic regions from 436 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), SIV and pSIV sequences, we estimate that the most recent common ancestor of extant SIVs dates to approximately 1 million years ago. The lineages giving rise to HIV-1 and HIV-2 (SIVcpz and SIVsmm) have circulated in their respective hosts for tens to hundreds of thousands of years, suggesting prolonged pre-pandemic human exposure. The divergence between the lineages leading to extant SIV and Malagasy pSIV is dated to 17-51 million years ago, consistent with ancient lentiviral transfer via over-water dispersal and/or non-primate vectors. Our analysis reconciles divergence-time estimates of primate lentiviruses across recent (HIV), intermediate (Bioko Island SIVs) and ancient (pSIV) timescales under an explicit model of time-dependent rate decay, enabling inferences not possible from any single timescale alone. It also highlights the sensitivity of deep viral dating to modelling assumptions, recombination and locus-specific evolutionary histories. This model-based framework provides new insights into primate lentivirus origins, virus-host associations and zoonotic risk.

Blood screening programs require ultra-sensitive high-throughput PCRs to ensure the absence of pathogens to keep blood components safe for recipients. We present here details of an investigation wherein samples undergoing screening using a high-throughput multi-pathogen NAT assay began to exhibit an abnormally high HIV false reactivity rate. NHS Blood and Transplant usually sees up to 10 HIV reactive samples per year, but this increased to over 100 in just a few days. Investigations into the cause were imperative to prevent recurrence. Analyzer and reagent issues were ruled out and environmental swabbing revealed extensive contamination of the laboratory, with 356 of 392 swabs testing positive. We demonstrate the methods by which we used amplicon NGS and a custom bioinformatic approach to differentiate between expected amplicons, PCR artifact, and contaminant sequences from extracted false-positive samples. Our investigation was able to trace the source of contamination to an unexpected source, a lentivirus transfer plasmid, containing the long terminal repeat (LTR) region of HIV-1, from a neighboring laboratory. This incident demonstrates the risks of false reactivity from HIV-derived lentiviral vectors, which has also been seen in patients receiving lentiviral vectors as part of gene or CAR T-cell therapies. The nature of the contaminant meant that there was no risk to donors, recipients, or staff. It did, however, demonstrate the critical importance of facility design and operation in plasmid manufacturing sites to prevent the spread of such contaminants and avoid unexpected downstream consequences such as those encountered in the screening laboratory.IMPORTANCEThis paper describes a large-scale contamination incident that occurred at a critically important high-throughput screening laboratory resulting in a significant spike of positives in the HIV screening. We describe the use of NGS and a custom bioinformatics approach that enabled us to identify the unexpected source of the contamination-a lentivirus transfer plasmid, containing the long terminal repeat (LTR) region of HIV-1, being produced in a neighboring laboratory. This incident demonstrates the risks of false reactivity from HIV-derived lentiviral vectors, which has also been seen in patients receiving lentiviral vectors as part of gene or CAR T-cell therapies. The nature of the contaminant meant that there was no risk to donors, recipients, or staff. It did, however, demonstrate the critical importance of facility design and operation in plasmid manufacturing sites to prevent the spread of such contaminants and avoid unexpected downstream consequences such as those encountered in the screening laboratory.

The type I interferon (IFN-I) response shapes the intracellular environment to suppress virus infection. Historically, this remodeling has been linked to the transcriptional induction of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). However, IFN-I-driven post-translational regulation of proteins already present in the cell remains relatively unexplored. Here, we profiled the activity of cellular RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), which are key players in antiviral immunity. Using RNA interactome capture (RIC), we identified hundreds of RBPs whose association with RNA is regulated by IFN-I (IR-RBPs). Among these IR-RBPs are both canonical antiviral proteins and non-canonical antiviral candidates, validated through a knockdown screen. By modifying RIC to study IR-RBPs' phosphorylation states, we identified several putative instances of IFN-I-driven phospho-regulation of RNA binding. We experimentally confirmed this phospho-driven regulation for MATR3. Altogether, our results characterize an important dimension of the cell’s antiviral program, in which the cellular RNA-bound proteome is remodeled by IFN-I.

The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) is the only homologous gene shared among current members of the kingdom Orthornavirae in the realm Riboviria. It is therefore used as a hallmark gene to infer their evolutionary relationships and to guide their taxonomic classification. While sequence similarity between RNA viruses is often limited and sequences problematic to align, the conservation between the three-dimensional tertiary structures of viral RdRPs is notable, supporting analysis of deep evolutionary relationships. Nevertheless, the limited availability of experimental RdRP structures restricts structure-based phylogenetic analyses. We used the protein structure prediction algorithm AlphaFold to alleviate this restriction and predicted structure models for 989 viral RdRPs. Through structural alignment with Homologous Structure Finder, we identified 211 structurally equivalent residues for RdRPs, representing 96 virus genera recognized by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. These equivalent residues were used to deduce a comprehensive structure-based phylogenetic tree for viral RdRPs, which was validated using a jackknifing approach developed in this study. For comparison, structural phylogenies were inferred using alignments produced with FoldTree and FoldMason software. The resulting trees mostly support the current taxonomic assignments of RNA viruses at the class rank. However, they do not support the monophyly of phyla Pisuviricota and Duplornaviricota. Furthermore, flaviviruses frequently group apart from other members of Kitrinoviricota. The conservation of protein structures over long periods of evolutionary time, when detectable sequence homology may be lost and sequence alignment problematic, supports the use of protein structure comparison methods for demonstrating the deeper evolutionary histories of RNA viruses.

The rapid rate of virus discovery renders manual curation by taxonomy experts increasingly impractical, creating a need for reliable software that can reproducibly assign viral contigs to taxa at all fifteen ranks of the virus taxonomy. We led an open community challenge for the computational taxonomic classification of viruses and assembled a dataset of virus sequences combining expert-curated and metagenomic sequences. Seventeen teams contributed a total of thirty-four automated, fully reproducible classification pipelines. Most tools correctly assigned viruses belonging to established species, genera, or families, but viruses that are unclassified at those lower ranks remain challenging. This study provides datasets, open-source software, novel approaches, and recommendations to benchmark computational taxonomic classification of viruses, and support organizing the many viruses discovered in big omics data.

The order Picornavirales is a group of highly diverse RNA viruses that includes many pathogens of significance to human and veterinary health, agriculture and the wider environment. However, the wide range of viruses assigned to the order, together with their genomic variability, and the recent description of numerous “picorna-like” viruses derived from metagenomic analyses of environmental samples, challenges the existing taxonomic classification of members of the order and the criteria for their classification. Here, we combine the existing gold standard, hallmark RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) gene sequence-based analysis with helicase sequence-based phylogeny, RdRp structural prediction through the use of ColabFold and Fold Tree, and analysis of coding complete genomes using GRAViTy-V2, to genetically classify 525 Picornavirales genomes and recently described “picorna-like” viruses. All analyses were conducted with a bespoke, fully automated pipeline for retrieval of genomes, domain classification and extraction, phylogenetic analysis, and output conditioning, which is available as open-source software. Our results reveal broad support for existing families as well as for six novel families, and 32 new genera. In instances where inconsistencies were found between classification methods, we demonstrate how examination of the pipeline’s output may be used to reconcile differences with respect to the genomic features quantified by the analysis. Automated multimodal taxonomic analysis may save significant resources over manual methods and better define demarcation criteria for families and genera. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Just over 125 years has passed since the 'filterable' agents of tobacco mosaic disease and foot-and-mouth disease were first described as infectious, replicating entities smaller than bacteria. Today, viruses are formally classified into more than 16,000 species ranked into genera, families and higher taxa. The development of an official virus taxonomy has been overseen by an International Committee, first constituted in 1966 and renamed as the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in 1975. Despite the engagement of the ICTV in virus taxonomy over the last 60 years, many aspects of virus classification and nomenclature may seem odd or sometimes incomprehensible to virologists more familiar with the taxonomy of cellular organisms. Who runs the ICTV? What are virus species demarcation criteria? Why have all virus species names become binomial? How can a sequence in a metagenomic dataset be assigned to a virus species? This article attempts to answer several such questions and outlines how a large, inclusive and global community of virologists has developed new and responsive policies for virus taxonomy in a decade when the pace of virus discovery has dramatically accelerated.

Infectious diseases pose a major threat to safety of blood transfusion, organ and tissue and cell-based immunotherapies. Blood services worldwide perform very large-scale screening of blood donors for the major transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs), HIV-1, hepatitis B and C viruses. However, ongoing and rapidly evolving threats to blood and transplant safety include the currently expanding number or arthropod-borne viruses, such as the current rapid northward expansion of West Nile, Chikungunya and Dengue viruses in Europe, and outbreaks of Oropouche and Zika viruses in Central and South America. The impact on blood and transplant safety of human virome components, including the large number of recently described and often highly prevalent human polyomaviruses, parvoviruses, papillomaviruses and anelloviruses, and human herpesviruses (HHVs) such as HHV-6 and − 7, remains poorly understood. Advances in genomics technologies, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) provide the future opportunity to greatly expand the range of pathogens screened in donors, and to better monitor blood and transplant recipients for potential TTIs. A broader screening capability would enable blood banks to rapidly and effectively respond to new pandemic pathogens. However, the value of their future application for donor screening will require a much better understanding of the natural histories and potential disease associations of human virome components and other viruses incidentally detected on NGS screening. Furthermore, while genomic-based detection and ELISAs for pathogen-specific antibody can be readily applied for screening and excluding conventional pathogens, these are incapable of detecting and preventing transmission of proteinopathies, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) where the infectious agents possess no nucleic acid genome. The recent evidence for transmission of variant CJD in the UK through blood and plasma transfusion, and potential more extensive transfusion transmission of the amyloid disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, present potential existential threats to the ideal of complete blood safety if these findings are confirmed. A better understanding of the nature of “protein-only” transmissible agents in the aetiology of several forms of neurodegenerative disease is urgently required. Not applicable.

The order Picornavirales is a group of highly diverse RNA viruses that includes many pathogens of significance to human and veterinary health, agriculture, and the wider environment. However, the wide range of viruses assigned to the order, together with their genomic variability, and the recent description of numerous 'picorna-like' viruses derived from metagenomic analyses of environmental samples, challenge the established taxonomic classification of members of the order and the criteria for their classification. Here, we combine the existing gold standard, hallmark RNA-directed RNA-polymerase (RdRP) gene sequence-based analysis with helicase sequence-based phylogeny, RdRP structural prediction through the use of ColabFold and Fold Tree, and analysis of coding-complete genomes using GRAViTy-V2, to genetically classify 525 picornaviral genomes and recently described 'picorna-like' viruses. All analyses were conducted with a bespoke, fully automated pipeline for retrieval of genome sequences, domain prediction and extraction, phylogenetic analysis, and output conditioning, which is available as open-source software. Our results reveal broad support for established families as well as for 6 novel families, and 32 new genera. In instances where inconsistencies were found between classification methods, we demonstrate how examination of the pipeline's output may be used to reconcile differences with respect to the genomic features quantified by the analysis. Automated multimodal taxonomic analysis may save significant resources over manual methods and better define demarcation criteria for families and genera.

Estimates of population prevalence and genetic diversity of bloodborne viruses in healthy humans are essential to support population-scale monitoring for transfusion transmission risk. In the UK and globally, blood donations are routinely screened for a limited number of high-consequence pathogens, but the full composition of the plasma virome remains to be characterized. Using a novel quantitative targeted metagenomics sequencing approach, we analyzed previously unscreened plasma donations collected by NHS Blood and Transplant in England for all major pathogenic and known commensal human bloodborne viruses, and quantified their viral burden. Here we show that in a representative sample of 5064 UK blood donors in pools of 24 collected over a 1-month period, the virome was dominated by a small number of largely persistent species, representing < 10% (10/106) of previously identified human bloodborne viruses. The principal genera of human anelloviruses (TTV, TTMV and TTMDV) were detected in 89% of pools, albeit at low read count, inconsistent with measured anellovirus viral loads. In contrast, human pegivirus type 1 (HPgV-1), had an estimated population prevalence of 3.7% (95% CI 3.0%-4.4%), with high read count and complete genome recovery in around one half of positive pools, consistent with high titer in plasma. Less common detections included one species of gemykibovirus in five separate plasma pools, one hepatitis C virus (genotype 1a), and polyomaviruses and herpesviruses with prevalences between 0.04% (parvovirus 4, BK polyomavirus) to 0.41% (human herpesvirus 6). Phylogenetic analyses revealed mixed TTV, TTMV, and TTMDV populations and almost exclusively genotype 2 HPgV-1, consistent with known genotype distributions in Europe. Our results provide a baseline for describing the healthy plasma virome in UK blood donors.

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is considering a proposal submitted in July 2025 to create an optional additional taxonomic rank below the level of species. This was designed to increase the precision of taxonomic assignment where clinical or other regulatory distinctions need to be made between viruses assigned to the same species. To understand current classification practice and to gauge opinion on the proposal to formalize a below-species taxon, current ICTV study group members (n=746) representing over 100 Study Groups were invited to complete a survey, from whom 240 completed forms and comments were collected in November 2025. The survey also recorded opinions on the use of designators, such as 'type', 'isolate' and 'subspecies' for below-species assignments and the typographic format of their names, for example, whether to be italicized and/or Latinized.Overall, a 6 : 1 majority favoured the introduction of an optional below-species taxonomic rank managed by the ICTV, and was particularly supported by those working in animal and veterinary virology fields where various forms of community-supported below-species classifications are used. There was also support to formalize and taxonomically assign existing classifications of viruses and define their nomenclature. Names might be formatted using the Latin alphabet but with less support for italicization or for Latinization of the below-species epithet. The survey data and associated comments will be considered in further discussions at the next ICTV Executive Committee meeting in November 2026. We thank all of their survey respondents for their invaluable and expert contributions to this consultative process.

The Flaviviridae are a family of non-segmented positive-sense enveloped RNA viruses containing significant pathogens including hepatitis C virus and yellow fever virus. Recent large-scale metagenomic surveys have identified many diverse RNA viruses related to classical orthoflaviviruses and pestiviruses but quite different genome lengths and configurations, and with a hugely expanded host range that spans multiple animal phyla, including molluscs, cnidarians and stramenopiles,, and plants. Grouping of RNA-directed RNA polymerase (RdRP) hallmark gene sequences of flavivirus and 'flavi-like' viruses into four divergent clades and multiple lineages within them was congruent with helicase gene phylogeny, PPHMM profile comparisons, and comparison of RdRP protein structure predicted by AlphFold2. These results support their classification into the established order, Amarillovirales, in three families (Flaviviridae, Pestiviridae, and Hepaciviridae), and 14 genera. This taxonomic framework informed by RdRP hallmark gene evolutionary relationships provides a stable reference from which major genome re-organisational events can be understood.

Influenza continues to cause significant mortality globally and possesses substantial pandemic potential. Assessing pandemic risk requires a clear understanding of existing population immunity. Leveraging a unique large-scale cohort of human sera, we evaluated total and neutralising antibody-mediated immunity to multiple haemagglutinin (HA) proteins, including those from subtypes with high pandemic potential. Our analysis reveals that population immunity is heterogeneous, with distinct age-dependent differences in responses to H5, H7, and H9 avian influenza subtypes. These shifts align with historical circulation patterns of seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 human viruses. Notably, H7 viruses are primarily neutralised through head domain epitopes, while H5 viruses are targeted mainly via stem epitopes, although in both instances some neutralisation occurred via receptor binding site-adjacent epitopes. Furthermore, H7 responses were dominated by non-glycan-targeted IgG2 antibodies, whereas H5 responses were primarily IgG1-mediated. These findings highlight varying levels of susceptibility to influenza across the population, supporting vaccination approaches informed by exposure history. ### Competing Interest Statement CPT has received lecture fees from Moderna. ### Funding Statement J.S.B. was supported by funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) doctoral training programme grant [grant number BB/M011224/1]. R.S. is funded by a Medical Research Council Impact Accelerator Account grant [grant ref MR/X502674/1]. RG was funded by The Institute for Global Pandemic Planning at the University of Warwick, UK, as part of a philanthropically supported doctoral programme. K.C. was funded via the Medical Research Council doctoral training programme grant [MC\_UP\_A025_1011]. L.H. was funded by a Defence and Science Technology Laboratory grant [grant ref RQ31692]. U.O. and C.P.T. acknowledge funding from the British Council ISFP scheme [grant number 47650215]. N.C.R. is supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship [grant number DHR00620]. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethical approval was obtained for the Scottish National Blood and Transfusion Service (SNBTS) anonymous archive - IRAS project number 18005 (an NHS REC). SNBTS blood donors gave fully informed consent to virological testing, donation was made under the SNBTS Blood Establishment Authorisation and the study was approved by the SNBTS Research and Sample Governance Committee (SGS 2022-12). I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors post publication and agreement by the SNBTS.

Virus taxonomy, comprising classification and nomenclature, is regulated by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Taxon names are standardized to facilitate recognition and communication, with defined suffixes for each rank (e.g., the names of orders, families, and genera end in -virales, -viridae, and -virus, respectively). However, until recently, a standard format for species names was lacking. In 2021, following extensive discussion and community consultation, the ICTV decided to adopt a standardized binomial (Linnaean) format for virus species names, consisting of the genus name followed by a "freeform" species epithet. Previously assigned virus species names that were non-compliant with the binomial format have been fully updated. In contrast to taxon names regulated by the ICTV, the names of viruses, or "common" names, such as yellow fever virus or human immunodeficiency virus, are not under the remit of the ICTV and have not been changed.