text: Paramyxoviruses are a diverse family of non-segmented negative strand RNA viruses that include many highly pathogenic viruses affecting humans, animals, and birds. These include canine distemper virus (dogs), phocine distemper virus (seals), cetacean morbillivirus (dolphins and porpoises) Newcastle disease virus (birds) and rinderpest virus (cattle). Some paramyxoviruses such as the henipaviruses are zoonotic pathogens, occurring primarily in an animal hosts, but also able to infect humans.