Journal article
Evidence for henipavirus spillover into human populations in Africa
O Pernet, BS Schneider, SM Beaty, M Lebreton, TE Yun, A Park, TT Zachariah, TA Bowden, P Hitchens, CM Ramirez, P Daszak, J Mazet, AN Freiberg, ND Wolfe, B Lee
Nature Communications | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2014
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6342
Open access
Abstract
Zoonotic transmission of lethal henipaviruses (HNVs) from their natural fruit bat reservoirs to humans has only been reported in Australia and South/Southeast Asia. However, a recent study discovered numerous HNV clades in African bat samples. To determine the potential for HNV spillover events among humans in Africa, here we examine well-curated sets of bat (Eidolon helvum, n=44) and human (n=497) serum samples from Cameroon for Nipah virus (NiV) cross-neutralizing antibodies (NiV-X-Nabs). Using a vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-based pseudoparticle seroneutralization assay, we detect NiV-X-Nabs in 48% and 3-4% of the bat and human samples, respectively. Seropositive human samples are foun..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Beth Nasse and the Brevard Zoo for providing captive-bred bat sera. We also acknowledge Terry Juelich, Jennifer Smith and Lihong Zhang for their help with the GLuc construct, and thank all the members of the Lee laboratory for their input and suggestions. This project was funded by the Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence (PSWRCE) U54 AI065359 and NIH grant AI069317. Metabiota/Global Viral's role in this study was supported by Google.org, the Skoll Foundation and in particular the US Agency for International Development (USAID); USAID's funding was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT program. The authors acknowledge the valuable contributions of the staff of Global Viral Cameroon under the supervision of Ubald Tamoufe. the Cameroon Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and the Ministry of Health provided support and authorizations for this research.