The role of wildlife such as wild birds, macaques, and bats in the spreading and maintenance of deadly zoonotic pathogens in nature have been well documented in many parts of the world. One such pathogen is the mosquitoes borne virus, namely the West Nile Virus (WNV). Previous research has shown that 1:7 and 1:6 Malaysian wild birds are WNV antibody and
RNA positive, respectively, and bats in North America may not be susceptible to the
WNV infection. This study was conducted to determine the status of WNV in Malaysian macaques and bats found in mangrove forests and caves, respectively. Archive sera and oropharyngeal swabs from long-tailed macaques were subjected to the antibody detection using WNV competitive
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) and WNV
RNA using RT-PCR, respectively, while the archive oropharyngeal and rectal swabs from bats were subjected to RT-PCR without serological analysis due to the unavailability of serum samples. The analysis revealed a WNV seropositivity of 29.63% (24/81) and none of the macaques were positive for WNV
RNA. Meanwhile, 12.2% (5/41) of the bats from Pteropodidae, Emballonuridae, and Rhinolophidae families tested positive for WNV
RNA. Here, we show a high WNV antibody prevalence in macaques and a moderate WNV
RNA in various Malaysian bat species, suggesting that WNV circulates through Malaysian wild animals and Malaysian bat species may be susceptible to the
WNV infection.