1. Isolation of Angola-like Marburg virus from Egyptian rousette bats from West Africa
- Author
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Victoria Ontiveros, Samuel Maxwell Tom Williams, Stuart T. Nichol, Alexandra Gibson, Osman Kanu, Camilla Bangura, Aiah Lebbie, Fatmata V. Bairoh, Immah Conteh, Tracey Goldstein, Jonathan Musa, Victor Lungai, Mohamed Turay, James Graziano, Alexandre Tremeau-Bravard, Ketan Patel, Willie Robert, Joseph A. Turay, Aiah Gbakima, Doris Bangura, Ibrahim A. Bakarr, Amy J. Schuh, Tushar Singh, Emmanuel Amara, Brian R. Amman, Abdulai A. Bangura, James Bangura, Moinya Coomber, Marilyn Kanu, Lavalie Edwin, Jonathan S. Towner, Alusine H. Koroma, Celine H. Taboy, Augustus Osborne, Emmanuel Saidu, Sorie Kamara, Amara Jambai, Richard A. Wadsworth, Raoul Emeric Guetiya Wadoum, Jonathan Johnny, Jonna A. K. Mazet, Vanessa Mereweather-Thompson, Manjunatha N. Belaganahalli, Ibrahim Foday, Andrew Chow, Dickson Kargbo, Jasjeet K. Dhanota, Emmanuel S. Kamanda, Tara K. Sealy, and Brian H. Bird
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Diseases ,Marburg virus disease ,Chiroptera ,Marburg Virus Disease ,Viral ,lcsh:Science ,Phylogeny ,Likelihood Functions ,Genome ,Multidisciplinary ,biology ,Geography ,Ecology ,Africa, Western ,Caves ,Infectious Diseases ,Infection ,Sequence Analysis ,Western ,Isolation (health care) ,Science ,030106 microbiology ,Zoology ,Genome, Viral ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Article ,Sierra leone ,Marburg virus ,03 medical and health sciences ,Viral Proteins ,parasitic diseases ,Animals ,Natural reservoir ,Prevention ,Outbreak ,DNA ,General Chemistry ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,biology.organism_classification ,Marburgvirus ,Emerging Infectious Diseases ,Good Health and Well Being ,030104 developmental biology ,Africa ,lcsh:Q ,Rousettus - Abstract
Marburg virus (MARV) causes sporadic outbreaks of severe Marburg virus disease (MVD). Most MVD outbreaks originated in East Africa and field studies in East Africa, South Africa, Zambia, and Gabon identified the Egyptian rousette bat (ERB; Rousettus aegyptiacus) as a natural reservoir. However, the largest recorded MVD outbreak with the highest case–fatality ratio happened in 2005 in Angola, where direct spillover from bats was not shown. Here, collaborative studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Njala University, University of California, Davis USAID-PREDICT, and the University of Makeni identify MARV circulating in ERBs in Sierra Leone. PCR, antibody and virus isolation data from 1755 bats of 42 species shows active MARV infection in approximately 2.5% of ERBs. Phylogenetic analysis identifies MARVs that are similar to the Angola strain. These results provide evidence of MARV circulation in West Africa and demonstrate the value of pathogen surveillance to identify previously undetected threats., Egyptian rousette bats (ERBs) are natural reservoirs for Marburg virus (MARV), but these bats have not been linked to the MARV Angola strain that caused the largest and deadliest outbreak on record. Here, Amman et al., in a multi-institutional surveillance effort, identify and isolate Angola-like MARV in ERBs in West Africa.
- Published
- 2019