Title (eng)

Zaire ebolavirus surveillance near the Bikoro region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the 2018 outbreak reveals presence of seropositive bats

Author

Stephanie N. Seifert   Washington State University / National Institutes of Health

Vincent J. Munster   National Institutes of Health

Fabien Roch Niama   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Chris Walzer   University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna / Wildlife Conservation Society

Sarah H Olson   Wildlife Conservation Society

Jean-Vivien Mombouli   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

César Muñoz-Fontela   Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine

Francine Ntoumi   Université Marien N'Gouabi / Fondation Congolaise pour la Recherche Médicale / University of Tübingen

Alain I. Ondzie   Wildlife Conservation Society

Kevin Tolovou Samabide   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique / Université Marien N'Gouabi

Rock Aimé Nina   Ministére de L'Agriculture et de L'Élevage

Valchy Bel-Bebi Miegakanda   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Yanne Mavoungou   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Lucette Nathalie Macosso   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Igor Louzolo   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Serge D. Kaba   Wildlife Conservation Society

Ghislain Dzeret Indolo   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Ankara Dieudonne   Ministére de L'Agriculture et de L'Élevage

Vishnou Reize Bani Ampiri   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Beal-Junior Akoundzie   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Beatriz Escudero-Pérez   Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine / German Centre for Infection Research

Jonathan E. Schulz   National Institutes of Health

Marc-Joël Akongo   Wildlife Conservation Society

Gerard Bounga   Wildlife Conservation Society

Cynthia Badzi Nkoua   Laboratoire National de Santé Publique

Robert J. Fischer   National Institutes of Health

Eeva Kuisma   Wildlife Conservation Society

Publishing

Public Library of Science

Description (eng)

On the 8th of May, 2018, an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) was declared, originating in the Bikoro region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) near the border with neighboring Republic of the Congo (ROC). Frequent trade and migration occur between DRC and ROC-based communities residing along the Congo River. In June 2018, a field team was deployed to determine whether Zaire ebolavirus (Ebola virus (EBOV)) was contemporaneously circulating in local bats at the human-animal interface in ROC near the Bikoro EVD outbreak. Samples were collected from bats in the Cuvette and Likouala departments, ROC, bordering the Équateur Province in DRC where the Bikoro EVD outbreak was first detected. EBOV genomic material was not detected in bat-derived samples by targeted quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction or by family-level consensus polymerase chain reaction; however, serological data suggests recent exposure to EBOV in bats in the region. We collected serum from 144 bats in the Cuvette department with 6.9% seropositivity against the EBOV glycoprotein and 14.3% seropositivity for serum collected from 27 fruit bats and one Molossinae in the Likouala department. We conclude that proactive investment in longitudinal sampling for filoviruses at the human-animal interface, coupled with ecological investigations are needed to identify EBOV wildlife reservoirs.

Object languages

English

Date

2022

Rights

This work is licensed under a
CC BY 4.0 - Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

CC BY 4.0 International

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Classification

Fruit Bats; Reservoirs; Infection; Virus

Member of the Collection(s) (1)