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Published Date: 2019-01-24 20:10:59
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Ebola update (10): Zaire ebolavirus detected, greater long-fingered bat, Liberia
Archive Number: 20190124.6275982
EBOLA UPDATE (10): ZAIRE EBOLAVIRUS DETECTED, GREATER LONG-FINGERED BAT, LIBERIA
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Date: Thu 24 Jan 2019
From: Jonathan Epstein <epstein@ecohealthalliance.org> [edited]


Zaire ebolavirus was detected in a greater long-fingered bat (species _Mineopterus inflatus_), sampled in Nimba County, Liberia, in September 2016. The bat tested positive for Zaire ebolavirus by PCR and had neutralizing antibodies against Zaire ebolavirus in its serum.

The finding was reported to the government of Liberia by the USAID-PREDICT project, a large-scale international surveillance and capacity-building initiative designed to identify new and known zoonotic viruses in wildlife before they cause outbreaks in humans or livestock. More than 5000 bats were sampled by PREDICT in Liberia between 2016 and 2018. Testing of these bats is ongoing, but to date [Thu 24 Jan 2019], just one bat has tested positive for Zaire ebolavirus.

In Liberia, PREDICT is focused on identifying natural hosts for filoviruses, including Ebola. This work is led by EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) and the Society for the Conservation of Nature, Liberia (SCNL), in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), the Forest Development Authority (FDA), the Ministry of Agriculture, Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity (CII), and University of California, Davis (UCD).

This discovery is significant because it is the 1st detection of Zaire ebolavirus in a bat in West Africa and provides important evidence that these bats may be a natural host for Ebola. This finding was the result of a proactive approach by the government of Liberia to identify the source of Ebola virus. This information will be used to develop strategies to reduce the risk of future outbreaks.

While this virus is known to be fatal in humans, this discovery should not be a cause for concern. There have been no new human Ebola cases associated with this finding. Genetic sequence information (partial genome) confirms that the virus detected is Zaire ebolavirus, but at this time it cannot be determined whether or not it is the exact same virus that caused the recent Ebolavirus disease (EVD) epidemic in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

Greater long-fingered bats are small (less than 20 g [0.7 oz]) and eat insects. People should not attempt to exterminate these or any bats in response to this finding. They are agriculturally important animals because they eat crop pests. This species prefers to live in forests, caves, and mines and is found in many parts of Africa, including West and Central Africa. People should avoid entering caves or mines inhabited by these bats to reduce the risk of exposure to Ebola virus.

A scientific publication is in preparation by the partners involved in the discovery, but given the public health significance of this high-consequence pathogen, it was determined by the government of Liberia, with full support from PREDICT and its partners, that rapid public release of this information was necessary.

Zaire ebolavirus was discovered in a bat in Liberia by EcoHealth Alliance (<www.ecohealthalliance.org>) in partnership with the Society for the Conservation of Nature, Liberia, Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity (<www.cii.columbia.edu>), and the Ministry of Health, Liberia, as part of the USAID PREDICT project (http://www.predict.global).

--
Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah
Minister of Health
Liberia
<wjallah@gmail.com>

Mr. Tolbert G. Nyenswah, LLB, MPH
Director General
National Public Health Institute of Liberia
Liberia
<imschair@gmail.com>

Dr. Jonathan Epstein
EcoHealth Alliance New York, USA
<epstein@ecohealthalliance.org>

Dr. Simon Anthony
Center for Infection and Immunity
Columbia University
New York, USA
<sja2127@cumc.columbia.edu>

[This is an exciting finding because it is the 1st time that Ebola virus Zaire, the parent strain responsible for the 2014-2016 West African epidemic and the 2018-2019 outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been discovered in a West African bat species. This finding is the result of a tremendous amount of work that extended literally from the forests of Liberia (where some 5000 individual bats from 10 different species were trapped and then released after obtaining multiple samples from each individual bat) to the molecular biology lab benches of Columbia University in New York City.

As stated in the above direct communication by study authors, the viral genome has only been partially sequenced, but with apparently enough sequence information to classify this isolate as a Zaire ebolavirus. It is quite unlikely that this newly identified bat strain is exactly the same subtype that caused the West African epidemic, but hopefully enough sequence information can be obtained prior to a full peer-reviewed scientific publication to allow molecular phylogenetic analysis to position this novel virus relative to other known Ebolaviruses that have been identified from animals and human outbreaks.

Identification of the particular bat host species, _Mineopterus inflatus_, also provides insights from an ecological and epidemiological perspective. As pointed out by the authors, the greater long-fingered bat has a rural habitat, living in forests, caves, and mines. This is in contrast to the Bombali ebolavirus (also discovered by members of the PREDICT team), which was found in free-tailed bat species in Sierra Leone that roost inside human dwellings. Furthermore, although the particular individual positive bat was trapped in Liberia, _Mineopterus inflatus_ is also found in Guinea (Jonathan Epstein, personal communication). Thus, the greater long-fingered bat could have been the wild reservoir species for the original index case in the West African epidemic, a young boy who lived in a rainforest village in southern Guinea.

ProMED greatly appreciates receiving this direct communication from the research team. This is a marvelous study that validates both the premise and the promise of the PREDICT project to find and characterize potential novel infectious agents by surveying wild animal populations in emerging disease hotspots around the world.

Related press coverage (provided by ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall) may be found at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/health/ebola-bat-liberia-epidemic.html and https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/cums-sde012319.php. - Mod.LXL

HealthMap/ProMED-mail map:
Liberia: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/54]

See Also

2018
Ebola update (71): Congo DR (NK) cases, response, bats 20180818.5974137
Ebola update (55): Sierra Leone Ebola virus variant, Congo DR cases, WHO 20180727.5931686
Ebola update (26): Congo DR, border controls, bat reservoir 20180604.5838529
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