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Aguilar-Setién A, Salas-Rojas M, Gálvez-Romero G, Almazán-Marín C, Moreira-Soto A, Alfonso-Toledo J, Obregón-Morales C, García-Flores M, García-Baltazar A, Serra-Cobo J, López-Roig M, Reyes-Puma N, Piche-Ovares M, Romero-Vega M, Barrantes Murillo DF, Soto-Garita C, Alfaro-Alarcón A, Corrales-Aguilar E, López-Díaz O, Pontier D, Filippi-Codaccioni O, Pons JB, Duhayer J, Drexler JF. Experimental infection of Artibeus lituratus bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guiana, Peru, and Costa Rica suggests a limited role of bats in Zika transmission. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2023; 17:e0010439. [PMID: 37486923 PMCID: PMC10399830 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Bats are important natural reservoir hosts of a diverse range of viruses that can be transmitted to humans and have been suggested to play an important role in the Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission cycle. However, the exact role of these animals as reservoirs for flaviviruses is still controversial. To further expand our understanding of the role of bats in the ZIKV transmission cycle in Latin America, we carried out an experimental infection in wild-caught Artibeus lituratus bats and sampled several free-living neotropical bats across three countries of the region. Experimental ZIKV infection was performed in wild-caught adult bats (4 females and 5 males). The most relevant findings were hemorrhages in the bladder, stomach and patagium. Significant histological findings included inflammatory infiltrate consisting of a predominance of neutrophils and lymphocytes, in addition to degeneration in the reproductive tract of males and females. This suggests that bat reproduction might be at some level affected by ZIKV. Leukopenia was also observed in some inoculated animals. Hemorrhages, genital alterations, and leukopenia are suggested to be caused by ZIKV; however, since these were wild-caught bats, we cannot exclude other agents. Detection of ZIKV by qPCR was observed at low concentrations in only two urine samples in two inoculated animals. All other animals and tissues tested were negative. Finally, no virus-neutralizing antibodies were found in any animal. To determine ZIKV infection in nature, the blood of a total of 2056 bats was sampled for ZIKV detection by qPCR. Most of the sampled individuals belonged to the genus Pteronotus sp. (23%), followed by the species Carollia sp. (17%), Anoura sp. (14%), and Molossus sp. (13.7%). No sample of any tested species was positive for ZIKV by qPCR. These results together suggest that bats are not efficient amplifiers or reservoirs of ZIKV and may not have an important role in ZIKV transmission dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alvaro Aguilar-Setién
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Mónica Salas-Rojas
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Guillermo Gálvez-Romero
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Cenia Almazán-Marín
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Andrés Moreira-Soto
- Institute of Virology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Helmut-Ruska-Haus, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jorge Alfonso-Toledo
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Cirani Obregón-Morales
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Martha García-Flores
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Anahí García-Baltazar
- Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México
| | - Jordi Serra-Cobo
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBIO). Facultat de Biolia. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marc López-Roig
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBIO). Facultat de Biolia. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nora Reyes-Puma
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical "Daniel Alcides Carrión" Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Marta Piche-Ovares
- Virology-CIET (Research Center for Tropical Disease), University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
- Department of Virology, School of Veterinary Medicine, National University, Heredia, Costa Rica
| | - Mario Romero-Vega
- Virology-CIET (Research Center for Tropical Disease), University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
| | | | - Claudio Soto-Garita
- Virology-CIET (Research Center for Tropical Disease), University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
| | - Alejandro Alfaro-Alarcón
- Department of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, National University, Heredia, Costa Rica
| | - Eugenia Corrales-Aguilar
- Virology-CIET (Research Center for Tropical Disease), University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
| | - Osvaldo López-Díaz
- Departamento de Producción Agrícola y Animal, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Dominique Pontier
- Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Ondine Filippi-Codaccioni
- Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Jean-Baptiste Pons
- Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Jeanne Duhayer
- Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Jan Felix Drexler
- Institute of Virology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Helmut-Ruska-Haus, Berlin, Germany
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Jo WK, Alfonso-Toledo JA, Salas-Rojas M, Almazan-Marin C, Galvez-Romero G, García-Baltazar A, Obregón-Morales C, Rendón-Franco E, Kühne A, Carvalho-Urbieta V, Rasche A, Brünink S, Glebe D, Aguilar-Setién Á, Drexler JF. Natural co-infection of divergent hepatitis B and C virus homologues in carnivores. Transbound Emerg Dis 2021; 69:195-203. [PMID: 34606685 DOI: 10.1111/tbed.14340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
In humans, co-infection of hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) is common and aggravates disease outcome. Infection-mediated disease aggravation is poorly understood, partly due to lack of suitable animal models. Carnivores are understudied for hepatitis virus homologues. We investigated Mexican carnivores (ringtails, Bassariscus astutus) for HBV and HCV homologues. Three out of eight animals were infected with a divergent HBV termed ringtail HBV (RtHBV) at high viral loads of 5 × 109 -1.4 × 1010 copies/ml serum. Two of the RtHBV-infected animals were co-infected with a divergent hepacivirus termed ringtail hepacivirus (RtHV) at 4 × 106 -7.5 × 107 copies/ml in strain-specific qRT-PCR assays. Immunofluorescence assays relying on HBV core and RtHV NS3/4a proteins indicated that none of the animals had detectable hepadnavirus core-specific antibodies, whereas one RtHV-infected animal had concomitant RtHV-specific antibodies at 1:800 end-point titre. RtHBV and RtHV complete genomes showed typical HBV and HCV structure and length. All RtHBV genomes were identical, whereas RtHV genomes showed four amino acid substitutions located predominantly in the E1/E2-encoding genomic regions. Both RtHBV (>28% genomic nucleotide sequence distance) and RtHV (>30% partial NS3/NS5B amino acid sequence distance) formed new species within their virus families. Evolutionary analyses showed that RtHBV grouped with HBV homologues from different laurasiatherian hosts (carnivores, bats, and ungulates), whereas RtHV grouped predominantly with rodent-borne viruses. Ancestral state reconstructions showed that RtHV, but not RtHBV, likely emerged via a non-recent host switch involving rodent-borne hepacivirus ancestors. Conserved hepatitis virus infection patterns in naturally infected ringtails indicate that carnivores may be promising animal models to understand HBV/HCV co-infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wendy K Jo
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jorge A Alfonso-Toledo
- Unidad de Investigación Médica e Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, México.,Unidad de Posgrado, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Monica Salas-Rojas
- Unidad de Investigación Médica e Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Cenia Almazan-Marin
- Unidad de Investigación Médica e Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Guillermo Galvez-Romero
- Unidad de Investigación Médica e Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Anahí García-Baltazar
- Unidad de Investigación Médica e Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Cirani Obregón-Morales
- Unidad de Investigación Médica e Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Emilio Rendón-Franco
- Departamento de Producción Agrícola y Animal, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Arne Kühne
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Victor Carvalho-Urbieta
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andrea Rasche
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Associated Partner Site Berlin, Germany
| | - Sebastian Brünink
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dieter Glebe
- German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Associated Partner Site Berlin, Germany.,Institute of Medical Virology, National Reference Center for Hepatitis B Viruses and Hepatitis D Viruses, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Álvaro Aguilar-Setién
- Unidad de Investigación Médica e Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Jan Felix Drexler
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Associated Partner Site Berlin, Germany
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3
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Moskaluk AE, Stuckey MJ, Jaffe DA, Kasten RW, Aguilar-Setién A, Olave-Leyva JI, Galvez-Romero G, Obregón-Morales C, Salas-Rojas M, García-Flores MM, Aréchiga-Ceballos N, García-Baltazar A, Chomel BB. Molecular Detection of Bartonella Species in Blood-Feeding Bat Flies from Mexico. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2018; 18:258-265. [PMID: 29652641 DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2017.2213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Bartonellae are emerging blood-borne bacteria that have been recovered from a wide range of mammalian species and arthropod vectors around the world. Bats are now recognized as a potential wildlife reservoir for a diverse number of Bartonella species, including the zoonotic Candidatus B. mayotimonensis. These bat-borne Bartonella species have also been detected in the obligate ectoparasites of bats, such as blood-feeding flies, which could transmit these bacteria within bat populations. To better understand this potential for transmission, we investigated the relatedness between Bartonella detected or isolated from bat hosts sampled in Mexico and their ectoparasites. Bartonella spp. were identified in bat flies collected on two bat species, with the highest prevalence in Trichobius parasiticus and Strebla wiedemanni collected from common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus). When comparing Bartonella sequences from a fragment of the citrate synthase gene (gltA), vector-associated strains were diverse and generally close to, but distinct from, those recovered from their bacteremic bat hosts in Mexico. Complete Bartonella sequence concordance was observed in only one bat-vector pair. The diversity of Bartonella strains in bat flies reflects the frequent host switch by bat flies, as they usually do not live permanently on their bat host. It may also suggest a possible endosymbiotic relationship with these vectors for some of the Bartonella species carried by bat flies, whereas others could have a mammalian host.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra E Moskaluk
- 1 Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California , Davis, Davis, California
| | - Matthew J Stuckey
- 1 Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California , Davis, Davis, California
| | - David A Jaffe
- 1 Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California , Davis, Davis, California
| | - Rickie W Kasten
- 1 Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California , Davis, Davis, California
| | - Alvaro Aguilar-Setién
- 2 Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias , Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Tulancingo, Mexico
| | - José Ignacio Olave-Leyva
- 3 Unidad de Investigación Médica en Inmunología, Hospital de Pediatría , Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, IMSS, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Guillermo Galvez-Romero
- 2 Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias , Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Tulancingo, Mexico
| | - Cirani Obregón-Morales
- 2 Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias , Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Tulancingo, Mexico
| | - Mónica Salas-Rojas
- 2 Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias , Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Tulancingo, Mexico
| | | | - Nidia Aréchiga-Ceballos
- 5 Laboratorio de Rabia, Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos , Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Anahí García-Baltazar
- 2 Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias , Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Tulancingo, Mexico
| | - Bruno B Chomel
- 1 Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California , Davis, Davis, California
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