As part of a study to investigate diseases in free-ranging bats in Germany [18] , 120 deceased bats from 2009 of 15 different European vespertilionid species (Eptesicus nilssoni, E. serotinus, Myotis bechsteini, M. daubentonii, M. mystacinus, M. nattereri, Nyctalus leisleri, N. noctula, Pipistrellus kuhli, P. nathusii, P. pipistrellus, P. pygmaeus, Plecotus auritas, P. austriacus, Vespertilio murinus) were examined. The bat carcasses originated from 4 different geographic regions in Germany, i.e. Berlin greater metropolitan area (n = 83), Bavaria (n = 30), Brandenburg (n = 5), and Baden-Wuerttemberg (n = 2). Bat carcasses were stored at -20uC for transportation before performing a full necropsy. For histo-pathological examination, a small piece of tissue from all organs was fixed in buffered 4% formalin, processed routinely and embedded in liquid paraffin. Paraffin blocks were cut at 2-5 mm thickness and stained with hematoxylin-eosin [19] . Immuno-histochemistry was performed on all organs of PCR positive bats using rabbit immune sera against Beilong virus, J-virus, Menangle virus, Tioman virus and Nipah virus as described previously [20] . Samples of lung, liver, heart, and kidney, and conspicuous tissues (e.g. enlarged spleen) from each bat were homogenized in buffer and transferred to RNAlater (1:1).