Studies of reservoir hosts for Marburg virus.

Authors :: Swanepoel, Robert
Smit, Sheilagh B.
Rollin, Pierre E.
Formenty, Pierre
Leman, Patricia A.
Kemp, Alan
Burt, Felicity J.
Grobbelaar, Antoinette A.
Croft, Janice
Bausch, Daniel G.
Zeller, Hervé
Leirs, Herwig
Braack, L. E. O.
Libande, Modeste L.
Zaki, Sherif
Nichol, Stuart T.
Ksiazek, Thomas G.
Paweska, Janusz T.
Zeller, Hervé
International Scientific and Technical Committee for Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Control in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Source :: Emerging Infectious Diseases; Dec2007, Vol. 13 Issue 12, p1847-1851, 5p, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 1 Graph
Publication Year :: 2007
Abstract: To determine reservoir hosts for Marburg virus (MARV), we examined the fauna of a mine in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The mine was associated with a protracted outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever during 1998-2000. We found MARV nucleic acid in 12 bats, comprising 3.0%-3.6% of 2 species of insectivorous bat and 1 species of fruit bat. We found antibody to the virus in the serum of 9.7% of 1 of the insectivorous species and in 20.5% of the fruit bat species, but attempts to isolate virus were unsuccessful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]