학술논문
Survey of Ebola Viruses in Frugivorous and Insectivorous Bats in Guinea, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2015-2017.
Document Type
Journal Article
Author
De Nys, Helene M.; Kingebeni, Placide Mbala; Keita, Alpha K.; Butel, Christelle; Thaurignac, Guillaume; Villabona-Arenas, Christian-Julian; Lemarcis, Thomas; Geraerts, Mare; Vidal, Nicole; Esteban, Amandine; Bourgarel, Mathieu; Roger, François; Leendertz, Fabian; Diallo, Ramadan; Ndimbo-Kumugo, Simon-Pierre; Nsio-Mbeta, Justus; Tagg, Nikki; Koivogui, Lamine; Toure, Abdoulaye; Delaporte, Eric
Source
Subject
*EBOLA virus disease
*BATS as laboratory animals
*EPIDEMICS
*PANDEMICS
*ZOONOSES
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Language
ISSN
1080-6040
Abstract
To clarify the role of bats in the ecology of Ebola viruses, we assessed the prevalence of Ebola virus antibodies in a large-scale sample of bats collected during 2015-2017 from countries in Africa that have had previous Ebola outbreaks (Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo) or are at high risk for outbreaks (Cameroon). We analyzed 4,022 blood samples of bats from >12 frugivorous and 27 insectivorous species; 2-37 (0.05%-0.92%) bats were seropositive for Zaire and 0-30 (0%-0.75%) bats for Sudan Ebola viruses. We observed Ebola virus antibodies in 1 insectivorous bat genus and 6 frugivorous bat species. Certain bat species widespread across Africa had serologic evidence of Zaire and Sudan Ebola viruses. No viral RNA was detected in the subset of samples tested (n = 665). Ongoing surveillance of bats and other potential animal reservoirs are required to predict and prepare for future outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]