1. Isolation of Angola-like Marburg virus from Egyptian rousette bats from West Africa.
- Author
-
Amman BR, Bird BH, Bakarr IA, Bangura J, Schuh AJ, Johnny J, Sealy TK, Conteh I, Koroma AH, Foday I, Amara E, Bangura AA, Gbakima AA, Tremeau-Bravard A, Belaganahalli M, Dhanota J, Chow A, Ontiveros V, Gibson A, Turay J, Patel K, Graziano J, Bangura C, Kamanda ES, Osborne A, Saidu E, Musa J, Bangura D, Williams SMT, Wadsworth R, Turay M, Edwin L, Mereweather-Thompson V, Kargbo D, Bairoh FV, Kanu M, Robert W, Lungai V, Guetiya Wadoum RE, Coomber M, Kanu O, Jambai A, Kamara SM, Taboy CH, Singh T, Mazet JAK, Nichol ST, Goldstein T, Towner JS, and Lebbie A
- Subjects
- Africa, Western, Animals, Caves, Genome, Viral, Geography, Likelihood Functions, Marburg Virus Disease virology, Marburgvirus classification, Marburgvirus genetics, Phylogeny, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Viral Proteins metabolism, Chiroptera virology, Marburgvirus isolation & purification
- 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.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF