Filoviruses and bats

Abstract

While Reston and Lloviu viruses have never been associated with human disease, the other filoviruses cause outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever characterised by person-to-person transmission and high case fatality ratios. Cumulative evidence suggests that bats are the most likely reservoir hosts of the filoviruses. Ecological investigations following Marburg virus disease outbreaks associated with entry into caves inhabited by Rousettus aegyptiacus bats led to the identification of this bat species as the natural reservoir host of the marburgviruses. Experimental infection of R. aegyptiacus with Marburg virus has provided insight into the natural history of filovirus infection in bats that may help guide the search for the reservoir hosts of the ebolaviruses.

Figure 1

Filovirus maximum-likelihood phylogeny and geographic distribution. The phylogeny was derived from concatenated partial nucleoprotein, viral protein 35 and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase filovirus gene sequences. A single representative sequence from each country in which filovirus zoonotic spillover has been detected or spillover into humans has occurred was selected to capture the geographic range of virus circulation. Sequences are coloured according to the sampling location and the colours correspond to those used in the associated map and legend. The numbers to the lower-left of the nodes are bootstrap percentages based on 1000 replicates. Horizontal branch lengths are proportional to the genetic distance between sequences and the scale underneath the phylogeny indicates the number of nucleotide substitutions per site.