In the fall of 2019, a fatal encephalitis outbreak led to the deaths of >200 European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in England. We used next-generation sequencing to identify a novel arterivirus with a genome coding sequence of only 43% similarity to existing GenBank arterivirus sequences.
Keywords: Arteriviridae; England; Erinaceus europaeus; European hedgehog; arterivirus; meningitis/encephalitis; outbreak; viruses; zoonoses.