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Revue Scientifique Et Technique... Apr 2016Natural virus reservoirs such as wild bats, birds, rodents and non-human primates are generally non-model organisms that have, until recently, presented limited... (Review)
Review
Natural virus reservoirs such as wild bats, birds, rodents and non-human primates are generally non-model organisms that have, until recently, presented limited opportunities for in-depth study. Next-generation sequencing provides a way to partially circumvent this limitation, since the methods required for data acquisition and analysis are largely species-independent. Comparative genomics and other 'omics' provide new opportunities to study the structure and function of various biological systems of wild species that are otherwise out of reach. Genomes of natural reservoir hosts can help to identify dominant pathways of virus-host interaction and to reveal differences between susceptible and resistant organisms, populations and species. This is of great scientific interest and may also provide a resource for the rational design of treatments for viral diseases in humans and livestock. In this way, we will 'learn from nature' and one day apply this knowledge to create disease-resistant livestock or develop novel therapeutic and prevention strategies. Reservoir host genomics will also open up possibilities for developing novel vaccines for wildlife, aid in the development of new diagnostic platforms, and have broad implications for developmental and evolutionary biology. In this review, the authors focus on natural reservoir hosts of viral pathogens, although most of the discussion points should be equally applicable to natural reservoirs of pathogenic bacteria, fungi or other parasites.
Topics: Animals; Communicable Diseases; Disease Reservoirs; Genomics; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
PubMed: 27217176
DOI: 10.20506/rst.35.1.2425 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Dec 2020Wildlife are important reservoirs for many pathogens, yet the role that different species play in pathogen maintenance frequently remains unknown. This is the case for...
Wildlife are important reservoirs for many pathogens, yet the role that different species play in pathogen maintenance frequently remains unknown. This is the case for rabies, a viral disease of mammals. While Carnivora (carnivores) and Chiroptera (bats) are the canonical mammalian orders known to be responsible for the maintenance and onward transmission of rabies Lyssavirus (RABV), the role of most species within these orders remains unknown and is continually changing as a result of contemporary host shifting. We combined a trait-based analytical approach with gradient boosting machine learning models to identify physiological and ecological host features associated with being a reservoir for RABV. We then used a cooperative game theory approach to determine species-specific traits associated with known RABV reservoirs. Being a carnivore reservoir for RABV was associated with phylogenetic similarity to known RABV reservoirs, along with other traits such as having larger litters and earlier sexual maturity. For bats, location in the Americas and geographic range were the most important predictors of RABV reservoir status, along with having a large litter. Our models identified 44 carnivore and 34 bat species that are currently not recognized as RABV reservoirs, but that have trait profiles suggesting their capacity to be or become reservoirs. Further, our findings suggest that potential reservoir species among bats and carnivores occur both within and outside of areas with current RABV circulation. These results show the ability of a trait-based approach to detect potential reservoirs of infection and could inform rabies control programs and surveillance efforts by identifying the types of species and traits that facilitate RABV maintenance and transmission.
Topics: Animals; Carnivory; Chiroptera; Disease Reservoirs; Host Specificity; Rabies; Rabies virus; Species Specificity
PubMed: 33290391
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008940 -
The Veterinary Quarterly Dec 2021Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, previously 2019-nCoV) is suspected of having originated in 2019 in China from a coronavirus infected bat of... (Review)
Review
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, previously 2019-nCoV) is suspected of having originated in 2019 in China from a coronavirus infected bat of the genus . Following the initial emergence, possibly facilitated by a mammalian bridge host, SARS-CoV-2 is currently transmitted across the globe via efficient human-to-human transmission. Results obtained from experimental studies indicate that animal species such as cats, ferrets, raccoon dogs, cynomolgus macaques, rhesus macaques, white-tailed deer, rabbits, Egyptian fruit bats, and Syrian hamsters are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and that cat-to-cat and ferret-to-ferret transmission can take place via contact and air. However, natural infections of SARS-CoV-2 have been reported only in pet dogs and cats, tigers, lions, snow leopards, pumas, and gorillas at zoos, and farmed mink and ferrets. Even though human-to-animal spillover has been reported at several instances, SARS-CoV-2 transmission from animals-to-humans has only been reported from mink-to-humans in mink farms. Following the rapid transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within the mink population, a new mink-associated SARS-CoV-2 variant emerged that was identified in both humans and mink. The increasing reports of SARS-CoV-2 in carnivores indicate the higher susceptibility of animal species belonging to this order. The sporadic reports of SARS-CoV-2 infection in domestic and wild animal species require further investigation to determine if SARS-CoV-2 or related Betacoronaviruses can get established in kept, feral or wild animal populations, which may eventually act as viral reservoirs. This review analyzes the current evidence of SARS-CoV-2 natural infection in domestic and wild animal species and their possible implications on public health.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Domestic; Animals, Wild; Animals, Zoo; COVID-19; Disease Reservoirs; Humans; Public Health; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 33892621
DOI: 10.1080/01652176.2021.1921311 -
Virus Research Jul 2015In recent years severe infectious diseases have been constantly emerging, causing panic in the world. Now we know that many of these terrible diseases are caused by... (Review)
Review
In recent years severe infectious diseases have been constantly emerging, causing panic in the world. Now we know that many of these terrible diseases are caused by viruses originated from bats (Table 1), such as Ebola virus, Marburg, SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV). These viruses have co-evolved with bats due to bats' special social, biological and immunological features. Although bats are not in close contact with humans, spillover of viruses from bats to intermediate animal hosts, such as horses, pigs, civets, or non-human primates, is thought to be the most likely mode to cause human infection. Humans may also become infected with viruses through aerosol by intruding into bat roosting caves or via direct contact with bats, such as catching bats or been bitten by bats.
Topics: Animals; Chiroptera; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Disease Reservoirs; Humans; Virus Diseases; Viruses
PubMed: 25997928
DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2015.05.006 -
Viruses Apr 2021Coronavirus (CoV) spillover events from wildlife reservoirs can result in mild to severe human respiratory illness. These spillover events underlie the importance of...
Coronavirus (CoV) spillover events from wildlife reservoirs can result in mild to severe human respiratory illness. These spillover events underlie the importance of detecting known and novel CoVs circulating in reservoir host species and determining CoV prevalence and distribution, allowing improved prediction of spillover events or where a human-reservoir interface should be closely monitored. To increase the likelihood of detecting all circulating genera and strains, we have modified primers published by Watanabe et al. in 2010 to generate a semi-nested pan-CoV PCR assay. Representatives from the four coronavirus genera (α-CoVs, β-CoVs, γ-CoVs and δ-CoVs) were tested and all of the in-house CoVs were detected using this assay. After comparing both assays, we found that the updated assay reliably detected viruses in all genera of CoVs with high sensitivity, whereas the sensitivity of the original assay was lower. Our updated PCR assay is an important tool to detect, monitor and track CoVs to enhance viral surveillance in reservoir hosts.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Wild; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Infections; Disease Reservoirs; Genome, Viral; Host Specificity; Humans; Limit of Detection; Pandemics; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Viral
PubMed: 33915875
DOI: 10.3390/v13040599 -
Microbiology Spectrum Oct 2021Bats are a reservoir for many zoonotic viruses and host large numbers of genetically diverse species in the families , , and . Viruses from these families have...
Bats are a reservoir for many zoonotic viruses and host large numbers of genetically diverse species in the families , , and . Viruses from these families have repeatedly spilled over to humans in recent decades, causing significant clinical disease and deaths. Here, metagenomic sequencing of a big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) submitted for rabies testing due to human exposure identified a novel paramyxovirus, Eptesicus fuscus orthorubulavirus (EfORV), in South Dakota, United States. The nearly complete 15,814-nucleotide genome shared 72% identity with that of human parainfluenza virus 4 (HPIV4), a virus that causes significant clinical disease, typically bronchiolitis and pneumonia, in children less than 2 years of age. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed a close evolutionary history between EfORV and HPIV4, reminiscent of other orthorubulaviruses with highly similar bat and mammalian species, including conspecific human and bat mumps virus, mammalian parainfluenza virus 5 and bat Alston virus, and porcine La Piedad Michoacán virus and bat Mapuera virus. These results support the idea that bats are a reservoir for diverse paramyxoviruses with closely shared evolutionary histories, compared with a number of significant human pathogens, and expand the range of bat paramyxoviruses to North America. Given the propensity of paramyxoviruses to overcome species barriers, additional surveillance and characterization of EfORV are warranted. Bats are a reservoir of large numbers of viruses. Among bat-borne zoonotic viruses, members of and have had the largest impact on human health. The repeated spillover of bat viruses to humans, often with devastating results, has led to increased surveillance and virus discovery efforts in hot spots for virus emergence, largely Asia and Africa. Apart from rabies virus, little surveillance of viruses in bats is performed in North America. Here, viral metagenomic sequencing identified a close relative to HPIV4 in a big brown bat found in a motel room in South Dakota. The virus, EfORV, was 72% identical to HPIV4, which causes clinically significant respiratory disease, mainly in children; it represents the first bat paramyxovirus identified in North America. Close genetic relationships between bat and mammalian orthorubulaviruses underscore the importance of bats as a reservoir for zoonotic viruses.
Topics: Animals; Chiroptera; Disease Reservoirs; Genome, Viral; Humans; Metagenomics; Parainfluenza Virus 4, Human; Paramyxoviridae; South Dakota; Zoonoses
PubMed: 34668744
DOI: 10.1128/Spectrum.00930-21 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Sep 2019Disease emergence events, epidemics and pandemics all underscore the need to predict zoonotic pathogen spillover. Because cross-species transmission is inherently...
Disease emergence events, epidemics and pandemics all underscore the need to predict zoonotic pathogen spillover. Because cross-species transmission is inherently hierarchical, involving processes that occur at varying levels of biological organization, such predictive efforts can be complicated by the many scales and vastness of data potentially required for forecasting. A wide range of approaches are currently used to forecast spillover risk (e.g. macroecology, pathogen discovery, surveillance of human populations, among others), each of which is bound within particular phylogenetic, spatial and temporal scales of prediction. Here, we contextualize these diverse approaches within their forecasting goals and resulting scales of prediction to illustrate critical areas of conceptual and pragmatic overlap. Specifically, we focus on an ecological perspective to envision a research pipeline that connects these different scales of data and predictions from the aims of discovery to intervention. Pathogen discovery and predictions focused at the phylogenetic scale can first provide coarse and pattern-based guidance for which reservoirs, vectors and pathogens are likely to be involved in spillover, thereby narrowing surveillance targets and where such efforts should be conducted. Next, these predictions can be followed with ecologically driven spatio-temporal studies of reservoirs and vectors to quantify spatio-temporal fluctuations in infection and to mechanistically understand how pathogens circulate and are transmitted to humans. This approach can also help identify general regions and periods for which spillover is most likely. We illustrate this point by highlighting several case studies where long-term, ecologically focused studies (e.g. Lyme disease in the northeast USA, Hendra virus in eastern Australia, Plasmodium knowlesi in Southeast Asia) have facilitated predicting spillover in space and time and facilitated the design of possible intervention strategies. Such studies can in turn help narrow human surveillance efforts and help refine and improve future large-scale, phylogenetic predictions. We conclude by discussing how greater integration and exchange between data and predictions generated across these varying scales could ultimately help generate more actionable forecasts and interventions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Dynamic and integrative approaches to understanding pathogen spillover'.
Topics: Animals; Asia, Southeastern; Australia; Borrelia burgdorferi; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Disease Reservoirs; Hendra Virus; Henipavirus Infections; Humans; Lyme Disease; Malaria; Plasmodium knowlesi; United States; Zoonoses
PubMed: 31401958
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0224 -
Virulence Dec 2021Several animal species, including ferrets, hamsters, monkeys, and raccoon dogs, have been shown to be susceptible to experimental infection by the human severe acute... (Review)
Review
Several animal species, including ferrets, hamsters, monkeys, and raccoon dogs, have been shown to be susceptible to experimental infection by the human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, which were responsible for the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, respectively. Emerging studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 natural infection of pet dogs and cats is also possible, but its prevalence is not fully understood. Experimentally, it has been demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 replicates more efficiently in cats than in dogs and that cats can transmit the virus through aerosols. With approximately 470 million pet dogs and 370 million pet cats cohabitating with their human owners worldwide, the finding of natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in these household pets has important implications for potential zoonotic transmission events during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as future SARS-related outbreaks. Here, we describe some of the ongoing worldwide surveillance efforts to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 exposure in companion, captive, wild, and farmed animals, as well as provide some perspectives on these efforts including the intra- and inter-species coronavirus transmissions, evolution, and their implications on the human-animal interface along with public health. Some ongoing efforts to develop and implement a new COVID-19 vaccine for animals are also discussed. Surveillance initiatives to track SARS-CoV-2 exposures in animals are necessary to accurately determine their impact on veterinary and human health, as well as define potential reservoir sources of the virus and its evolutionary and transmission dynamics.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Domestic; Animals, Wild; Animals, Zoo; COVID-19; COVID-19 Vaccines; Disease Reservoirs; Ferrets; Humans; Pets; Prevalence; SARS-CoV-2; Viral Zoonoses
PubMed: 34696707
DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2021.1996519 -
Journal of Virology Feb 2022Bats are reservoirs of important zoonotic viruses like Nipah and SARS viruses. However, whether the blood-sucking arthropods on the body surface of bats also carry these...
Bats are reservoirs of important zoonotic viruses like Nipah and SARS viruses. However, whether the blood-sucking arthropods on the body surface of bats also carry these viruses and the relationship between viruses carried by the blood-sucking arthropods and viruses carried by bats have not been reported. This study collected 686 blood-sucking arthropods on the body surface of bats from Yunnan Province, China, between 2012 and 2015, and they included wingless bat flies, bat flies, ticks, mites, and fleas. The viruses carried by these arthropods were analyzed using a meta-transcriptomic approach, and 144 highly diverse positive-sense single-stranded RNA, negative-sense single-stranded RNA, and double-stranded RNA viruses were found, of which 138 were potentially new viruses. These viruses were classified into 14 different virus families or orders, including , , , and . Further analyses found that were the most abundant virus group (84% of total virus RNA) in ticks, whereas narnaviruses were the most abundant (52 to 92%) in the bat flies and wingless bat flies libraries, followed by solemoviruses (1 to 29%) and reoviruses (0 to 43%). These viruses were highly structured based on the arthropod types. It is worth noting that no bat-borne zoonotic viruses were found in the virome of bat-infesting arthropod, seemingly not supporting that bat surface arthropods are vectors of zoonotic viruses carried by bats. Bats are reservoirs of many important viral pathogens. To evaluate whether bat-parasitic blood-sucking arthropods participate in the circulation of these important viruses, it is necessary to conduct unbiased virome studies on these arthropods. We evaluated five types of blood-sucking parasitic arthropods on the surface of bats in Yunnan, China, and identified a variety of viruses, some of which had high prevalence and abundance levels, although there is limited overlap in virome between distant arthropods. While most of the virome discovered here is potentially arthropod-specific viruses, we identified three possible arboviruses, including one orthobunyavirus and two vesiculoviruses (family ), suggesting bat-parasitic arthropods carry viruses with risk of spillage, which warrants further study.
Topics: Animals; Arboviruses; Arthropods; China; Chiroptera; Disease Reservoirs; Ectoparasitic Infestations; Phylogeny; RNA Viruses; Virome
PubMed: 34586860
DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01464-21 -
EcoHealth Jun 2018Dromedary camels have been implicated consistently as the source of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) human infections and attention to prevent and...
Dromedary camels have been implicated consistently as the source of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) human infections and attention to prevent and control it has focused on camels. To understanding the epidemiological role of camels in the transmission of MERS-CoV, we utilized an iterative empirical process in Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify and qualify potential hotspots for maintenance and circulation of MERS-CoV, and produced risk-based surveillance sites in Kenya. Data on camel population and distribution were used to develop camel density map, while camel farming system was defined using multi-factorial criteria including the agro-ecological zones (AEZs), production and marketing practices. Primary and secondary MERS-CoV seroprevalence data from specific sites were analyzed, and location-based prevalence matching with camel densities was conducted. High-risk convergence points (migration zones, trade routes, camel markets, slaughter slabs) were profiled and frequent cross-border camel movement mapped. Results showed that high camel-dense areas and interaction (markets and migration zones) were potential hotspot for transmission and spread. Cross-border contacts occurred with in-migrated herds at hotspot locations. AEZ differential did not influence risk distribution and plausible risk factors for spatial MERS-CoV hotspots were camel densities, previous cases of MERS-CoV, high seroprevalence and points of camel convergences. Although Kenyan camels are predisposed to MERS-CoV, no shedding is documented to date. These potential hotspots, determined using anthropogenic, system and trade characterizations should guide selection of sampling/surveillance sites, high-risk locations, critical areas for interventions and policy development in Kenya, as well as instigate further virological examination of camels.
Topics: Animal Diseases; Animals; Camelus; Coronavirus Infections; Disease Reservoirs; Geographic Information Systems; Geographic Mapping; Kenya; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus; Prevalence; Public Health Surveillance; Seroepidemiologic Studies
PubMed: 29549589
DOI: 10.1007/s10393-018-1317-6