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. 2019 Aug;25(8):1577-1580.
doi: 10.3201/eid2508.190268. Epub 2019 Aug 17.

Marburgvirus in Egyptian Fruit Bats, Zambia

Masahiro Kajihara, Bernard M Hang'ombe, Katendi Changula, Hayato Harima, Mao Isono, Kosuke Okuya, Reiko Yoshida, Akina Mori-Kajihara, Yoshiki Eto, Yasuko Orba, Hirohito Ogawa, Yongjin Qiu, Hirofumi Sawa, Edgar Simulundu, Daniel Mwizabi, Musso Munyeme, David Squarre, Victor Mukonka, Aaron Mweene, Ayato Takada

Marburgvirus in Egyptian Fruit Bats, Zambia

Masahiro Kajihara et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

We detected Marburg virus genome in Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) captured in Zambia in September 2018. The virus was closely related phylogenetically to the viruses that previously caused Marburg outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This finding demonstrates that Zambia is at risk for Marburg virus disease.

Keywords: Chiroptera; Egyptian fruit bats; Filoviridae; Marburg virus disease; Marburgvirus; Zambia; viruses.

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Figures

Figure
Figure
Phylogenetic trees showing evolutionary relationships of Marburgviruses from Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), Zambia, 2018 (boldface), and reference viruses. The trees were constructed based on nucleotide sequences of 440 nt for the nucleoprotein gene (A), 296 nt for the viral protein 35 gene (B), and 238 nt for the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene (C) by using the maximum-likelihood method in MEGA7 (11). Nucleotide sequences of representative Marburgvirus strains were obtained from GenBank; accession numbers are shown with strain names. Bootstrap values >80 are shown near the branch nodes. Scale bars indicate nucleotide substitutions per site.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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