Badger virome

The European badger (Meles meles) is a reservoir of notorious pathogens of domesticated animals and human, notably bovine tuberculosis and canine distemper virus. However, our knowledge of the diversity of European badger pathogens (including those of zoonotic potential) remains scarce, as few without a priori virus discovery studies have been conducted on this species.We captured 10 European badgers and collected subcaudal, rectal, genital, nasal, oral and eye swab samples, and blood samples. We pooled those samples by tissue type and we processed them, alongside a negative control, using a viral metagenomic approach coupled to NovaSeq 2x150 paired-end sequencing.