10 research outputs found
Emerg Infect Dis
No full textOn March 20, 2015, a case of Ebola virus disease was identified in Liberia that most likely was transmitted through sexual contact. We assessed the efficiency of detecting Ebola virus in semen samples by molecular diagnostics and the stability of Ebola virus in ex vivo semen under simulated tropical conditions.Intramural NIH HHS/United State
Ebola Virus Persistence in Semen Ex Vivo
No full textOn March 20, 2015, a case of Ebola virus disease was identified in Liberia that most likely was transmitted through sexual contact. We assessed the efficiency of detecting Ebola virus in semen samples by molecular diagnostics and the stability of Ebola virus in ex vivo semen under simulated tropical conditions
Lek-associated movement of a putative Ebolavirus reservoir, the hammer-headed fruit bat (<i>Hypsignathus monstrosus</i>), in northern Republic of Congo
No full textThe biology and ecology of Africa’s largest fruit bat remains largely understudied and enigmatic despite at least two highly unusual attributes. The acoustic lek mating behavior of the hammer-headed bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus) in the Congo basin was first described in the 1970s. More recently molecular testing implicated this species and other African bats as potential reservoir hosts for Ebola virus and it was one of only two fruit bat species epidemiologically linked to the 2008 Luebo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola outbreak. Here we share findings from the first pilot study of hammer-headed bat movement using GPS tracking and accelerometry units and a small preceding radio-tracking trial at an apparent lekking site. The radio-tracking revealed adult males had high rates of nightly visitation to the site compared to females (only one visit) and that two of six females day-roosted ~100 m west of Libonga, the nearest village that is ~1.6 km southwest. Four months later, in mid-April 2018, five individual bats, comprised of four males and one female, were tracked from two to 306 days, collecting from 67 to 1022 GPS locations. As measured by mean distance to the site and proportion of nightly GPS locations within 1 km of the site (percent visitation), the males were much more closely associated with the site (mean distance 1.4 km; 51% visitation), than the female (mean 5.5 km; 2.2% visitation). Despite the small sample size, our tracking evidence supports our original characterization of the site as a lek, and the lek itself is much more central to male than female movement. Moreover, our pilot demonstrates the technical feasibility of executing future studies on hammer-headed bats that will help fill problematic knowledge gaps about zoonotic spillover risks and the conservation needs of fruit bats across the continent.</div
GPS tracking of five bats.
No full textLocations and movement and of bats beginning mid-April 2018. The main north-south paved N2 highway is shown in grey (inset map from R package: rworldmap). The estimated center of lek activity is located at the star and locations of the two nearby villages are shown (black triangles).</p
Adult male hammer-headed bat with solar GPS tag and collar harness.
No full textAdult male hammer-headed bat with solar GPS tag and collar harness.</p
Deployment summary for all tagged bats during the April 2018 study period.
No full textThe table is sorted by the number of GPS locations and additional statistics are shown for the five bats with over 24 hours of GPS data.</p
Nightly bat flight activity.
No full text(A) Barplot of GPS-based distance flown every 30 min beginning at 18h00 (time zero in plot) and 06h00 (time 12 in plot) and (B) of flight behavior observations as determined by accelerometry over the same period.</p
Transcriptional signatures of pathogenesis and successful type I interferon and ribavirin therapy in a rhesus macaque model of MERS-CoV infection
No full textAnnual Joint Conference of the International-Cytokine-Society and the International-Society-for-Interferon-and-Cytokine-Research, San Francisco, CA, SEP 29-OCT 03, 2013International audienceno abstrac
Day roost fidelity.
No full textTukey box and whiskers plot of nightly overall displacement patterns (m) by each bat as measured from where the bat began the evening (typically around 18h00 WAT) and arrived in the following morning (typically around 06h00 WAT).</p
<b>Infection with mpox virus via the genital mucosae increases shedding and transmission in the multimammate rat (</b><b><i>Mastomys natalensis</i></b><b>)</b>
No full textThe 2022 mpox virus outbreak was sustained by human-to-human transmission, however it is currently unclear which factors lead to sustained transmission of mpox virus (MPXV). Here, we present Mastomys natalensis as a model for MPXV transmission after intraperitoneal, rectal, vaginal, aerosol, and transdermal inoculation with an early 2022 human outbreak isolate (Clade IIb). Virus shedding and tissue replication was route-dependent and occurred in the presence of self-resolving localized skin, lung, reproductive tract, or rectal lesions. Mucosal inoculation via rectal, vaginal and aerosol routes led to increased shedding, replication and a proinflammatory T-cell profile compared to skin inoculation. Contact transmission was higher from rectally inoculated animals. This suggests that transmission might be sustained by increased susceptibility of the anal and genital mucosae for infection and subsequent virus release.</p
