Over the past 30 years, Zaire and Sudan ebolaviruses have been responsible for large hemorrhagic fever (HF) outbreaks with case fatalities ranging from 53% to 90%, while a third species, Côte ...d'Ivoire ebolavirus, caused a single non-fatal HF case. In November 2007, HF cases were reported in Bundibugyo District, Western Uganda. Laboratory investigation of the initial 29 suspect-case blood specimens by classic methods (antigen capture, IgM and IgG ELISA) and a recently developed random-primed pyrosequencing approach quickly identified this to be an Ebola HF outbreak associated with a newly discovered ebolavirus species (Bundibugyo ebolavirus) distantly related to the Côte d'Ivoire ebolavirus found in western Africa. Due to the sequence divergence of this new virus relative to all previously recognized ebolaviruses, these findings have important implications for design of future diagnostic assays to monitor Ebola HF disease in humans and animals, and ongoing efforts to develop effective antivirals and vaccines.
Marburg virus (MARV) is among the most virulent pathogens of primates, including humans. Contributors to severe MARV disease include immune response suppression and inflammatory gene dysregulation ...(“cytokine storm”), leading to systemic damage and often death. Conversely, MARV causes little to no clinical disease in its reservoir host, the Egyptian rousette bat (ERB). Previous genomic and in vitro data suggest that a tolerant ERB immune response may underlie MARV avirulence, but no significant examination of this response in vivo yet exists. Here, using colony-bred ERBs inoculated with a bat isolate of MARV, we use species-specific antibodies and an immune gene probe array (NanoString) to temporally characterize the transcriptional host response at sites of MARV replication relevant to primate pathogenesis and immunity, including CD14+ monocytes/macrophages, critical immune response mediators, primary MARV targets, and skin at the inoculation site, where highest viral loads and initial engagement of antiviral defenses are expected. Our analysis shows that ERBs upregulate canonical antiviral genes typical of mammalian systems, such as ISG15, IFIT1, and OAS3, yet demonstrate a remarkable lack of significant induction of proinflammatory genes classically implicated in primate filoviral pathogenesis, including CCL8, FAS, and IL6. Together, these findings offer the first in vivo functional evidence for disease tolerance as an immunological mechanism by which the bat reservoir asymptomatically hosts MARV. More broadly, these data highlight factors determining disparate outcomes between reservoir and spillover hosts and defensive strategies likely utilized by bat hosts of other emerging pathogens, knowledge that may guide development of effective antiviral therapies.
•CD14+ monocytes show Marburg virus replication after infection of reservoir bats•Infected bat monocytes and tissues show canonical antiviral response gene induction•Infected bat host response lacks significant induction of immunopathogenic genes•Immunoprotective bat response contrasts starkly to that reported for sick primates
A long-standing question for zoonotic diseases is how animal reservoirs such as bats immunologically control infection by pathogens that often kill spillover hosts such as humans. Guito et al. present clear evidence that Marburg virus-infected Egyptian rousette bats avert pathology by limiting induction of proinflammatory genes linked to severe disease.
The Egyptian rousette bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) is a natural reservoir for marburgviruses and a consistent source of virus spillover to humans. Cumulative evidence suggests various bat species may ...also transmit ebolaviruses. We investigated the susceptibility of Egyptian rousettes to each of the five known ebolaviruses (Sudan, Ebola, Bundibugyo, Taï Forest, and Reston), and compared findings with Marburg virus. In a pilot study, groups of four juvenile bats were inoculated with one of the ebolaviruses or Marburg virus. In ebolavirus groups, viral RNA tissue distribution was limited, and no bat became viremic. Sudan viral RNA was slightly more widespread, spurring a second, 15-day Sudan virus serial euthanasia study. Low levels of Sudan viral RNA disseminated to multiple tissues at early time points, but there was no viremia or shedding. In contrast, Marburg virus RNA was widely disseminated, with viremia, oral and rectal shedding, and antigen in spleen and liver. This is the first experimental infection study comparing tissue tropism, viral shedding, and clinical and pathologic effects of six different filoviruses in the Egyptian rousette, a known marburgvirus reservoir. Our results suggest Egyptian rousettes are unlikely sources for ebolaviruses in nature, and support a possible single filovirus-single reservoir host relationship.
The Egyptian rousette bat (ERB) is a natural reservoir host for Marburg virus (MARV); however, the mechanisms by which MARV is transmitted bat-to-bat and to other animals are unclear. Here we ...co-house MARV-inoculated donor ERBs with naive contact ERBs. MARV shedding is detected in oral, rectal and urine specimens from inoculated bats from 5-19 days post infection. Simultaneously, MARV is detected in oral specimens from contact bats, indicating oral exposure to the virus. In the late study phase, we provide evidence that MARV can be horizontally transmitted from inoculated to contact ERBs by finding MARV RNA in blood and oral specimens from contact bats, followed by MARV IgG antibodies in these same bats. This study demonstrates that MARV can be horizontally transmitted from inoculated to contact ERBs, thereby providing a model for filovirus maintenance in its natural reservoir host and a potential mechanism for virus spillover to other animals.
In August 2012, a wildlife biologist became severely ill after becoming infected with a novel paramyxovirus, termed Sosuga virus. In the weeks prior to illness, the patient worked with multiple ...species of bats in South Sudan and Uganda, including Egyptian rousette bats (ERBs: Rousettus aegyptiacus). A follow-up study of Ugandan bats found multiple wild-caught ERBs to test positive for SOSV in liver and spleen. To determine the competency of these bats to act as a natural reservoir host for SOSV capable of infecting humans, captive-bred ERBs were inoculated with a recombinant SOSV, representative of the patient's virus sequence. The bats were inoculated subcutaneously, sampled daily (blood, urine, fecal, oral and rectal swabs) and serially euthanized at predetermined time points. All inoculated bats became infected with SOSV in multiple tissues and blood, urine, oral, rectal and fecal swabs tested positive for SOSV RNA. No evidence of overt morbidity or mortality were observed in infected ERBs, although histopathological examination showed subclinical disease in a subset of tissues. Importantly, SOSV was isolated from oral/rectal swabs, urine and feces, demonstrating shedding of infectious virus concomitant with systemic infection. All bats euthanized at 21 days post-inoculation (DPI) seroconverted to SOSV between 16 and 21 DPI. These results are consistent with ERBs being competent reservoir hosts for SOSV with spillover potential to humans.
Although bats are natural reservoir hosts for numerous zoonotic viruses, little is known about the long-term dynamics of the host immune response following infection and how these viruses are ...maintained in nature. The Egyptian rousette bat (ERB) is a known reservoir host for Marburg virus (MARV). Following infection of ERBs with MARV, virus-specific IgG antibodies are induced but rapidly wane and by 3 months post-infection the bats are seronegative. To determine whether reinfection of ERBs plays a role in MARV maintenance, we challenge groups of ERBs that were "naturally" or experimentally infected with MARV 17-24 months prior. No bats in either group exhibit evidence of MARV replication or shedding and all bats develop virus-specific secondary immune responses. This study demonstrates that infection of ERBs with MARV induces long-term protective immunity against reinfection and indicates that other factors, such as host population dynamics, drive MARV maintenance in nature.
Bats are increasingly recognized as reservoirs of emerging zoonotic pathogens. Egyptian rousette bats (ERBs) are the known reservoir of Marburg virus (MARV), a filovirus that causes deadly Marburg ...virus disease (MVD) in humans. However, ERBs harbor MARV asymptomatically, likely due to a coadapted and specific host immunity-pathogen relationship. Recently, we measured transcriptional responses in MARV-infected ERB whole tissues, showing that these bats possess a disease tolerant strategy that limits pro-inflammatory gene induction, presumably averting MVD-linked immunopathology. However, the host resistant strategy by which ERBs actively limit MARV burden remains elusive, which we hypothesize requires localized inflammatory responses unresolvable at bulk-tissue scale. Here, we use dexamethasone to attenuate ERB pro-inflammatory responses and assess MARV replication, shedding and disease. We show that MARV-infected ERBs naturally mount coordinated pro-inflammatory responses at liver foci of infection, comprised of recruited mononuclear phagocytes and T cells, the latter of which proliferate with likely MARV-specificity. When pro-inflammatory responses are diminished, ERBs display heightened MARV replication, oral/rectal shedding and severe MVD-like liver pathology, demonstrating that ERBs balance immunoprotective tolerance with discreet MARV-resistant pro-inflammatory responses. These data further suggest that natural ERB immunomodulatory stressors like food scarcity and habitat disruption may potentiate viral shedding, transmission and therefore outbreak risk.
Marburg virus disease, caused by Marburg and Ravn orthomarburgviruses, emerges sporadically in sub-Saharan Africa and is often fatal in humans. The natural reservoir is the Egyptian rousette bat ...(ERB), which sheds virus in saliva, urine, and feces. Frugivorous ERBs discard test-bitten and partially eaten fruit, potentially leaving infectious virus behind that could be consumed by other susceptible animals or humans. Historically, 8 of 17 known Marburg virus disease outbreaks have been linked to human encroachment on ERB habitats, but no linkage exists for the other 9 outbreaks, raising the question of how bats and humans might intersect, leading to virus spillover. We used micro‒global positioning systems to identify nightly ERB foraging locations. ERBs from a known Marburg virus‒infected population traveled long distances to feed in cultivated fruit trees near homes. Our results show that ERB foraging behavior represents a Marburg virus spillover risk to humans and plausibly explains the origins of some past outbreaks.