Reston virus

Reston virus (RESTV) is one of six known viruses within the genus Ebolavirus. Reston virus causes Ebola virus disease in non-human primates; out of all 6 ebolaviruses, it is one of the only two not known to cause disease in humans, but has caused asymptomatic infections. Reston virus was first described in 1990 as a new "strain" of Ebola virus (EBOV). It is the single member of the species Reston ebolavirus, which is included into the genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales. Reston virus is named after Reston, Virginia, US, where the virus was first discovered.

RESTV was discovered in crab-eating macaques imported by Hazleton Laboratories (now Fortrea) in 1989. This attracted significant media attention due to Reston's location in the Washington metropolitan area and the lethality of a closely related Ebola virus. Despite its status as a level-4 organism, Reston virus is non-pathogenic to humans, though hazardous to monkeys; the perception of its lethality was compounded by the monkey's coinfection with Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV). Despite ongoing research, the determinants for lack of human pathogenicity are yet to be discovered.