A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae

Bats and rodents have been identified as reservoir hosts of diverse RNA viruses that pose potential risks to humans. However, overall virus prevalence in wildlife and underlying factors determining the zoonotic potential of reservoir-borne viruses remain poorly characterized. Virus detection often relies on the identification of viral nucleotide sequences and may therefore be limited by variable virus concentration, tissue tropism, sample quality, and duration of infection. In this study, we applied a multiplex immunofluorescence assay to examine bat and rodent seroprevalence against 14 different human pathogenic RNA viruses spanning seven virus families ( Coronaviridae, Flaviviridae, Hantaviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Phenuiviridae, Pneumoviridae, Togaviridae ). We retrospectively analyzed 1,135 bat (16 species) and 454 rodent (15 species) blood or transudate specimens collected at 63 sites in seven countries. The tropical bats in our dataset exhibited notably high rates of seropositivity against certain virus families ( Flaviviridae: 42.7%; Paramyxoviridae: 67.7%; Togaviridae : 7.5%). Although confounding factors and sparse data continue to pose challenges to identifying correlates of RNA virus infection in wildlife, multivariable logistic regression models were created to provisionally evaluate the association of tropical bat characteristics with seropositivity. Preliminary findings indicate that large colony size, found among species such as Eidolon helvum and Rousettus aegyptiacus , is a predictor within this dataset of orthoflavi- and orthorubulavirus seroprevalence, consistent with the communal spread of bat-adapted viruses.

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Publication Details

Journal
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Published
2026-10-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0013689
Primary Topic
Zoonotic diseases and public health
Type
article
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article

A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae

Susanne Zweerink, Tabea Binger, Samuel Kingsley Oppong, Jackson Emanuel et al.
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Zoonotic diseases and public health
article

A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae

Susanne Zweerink, Tabea Binger, Samuel Kingsley Oppong, Jackson Emanuel, Jan Papies, Terry C. Jones, Marco Tschapka, Erik Lattwein, Florian Gloza‐Rausch, Peter Vallo, Rainer G. Ulrich, Talitha Veith, Beate Mareike Kümmerer, Leonie Meiners, Chantal B. E. M. Reusken, Jonas Schmidt‐Chanasit, Marcel A. Müller, Gaël Darren Maganga, Jan Felix Drexler, Eric M. Leroy, Christian Drosten, Victor M. Corman, Kai Fechner, Veronika Cottontail
article en

Abstract

Bats and rodents have been identified as reservoir hosts of diverse RNA viruses that pose potential risks to humans. However, overall virus prevalence in wildlife and underlying factors determining the zoonotic potential of reservoir-borne viruses remain poorly characterized. Virus detection often relies on the identification of viral nucleotide sequences and may therefore be limited by variable virus concentration, tissue tropism, sample quality, and duration of infection. In this study, we applied a multiplex immunofluorescence assay to examine bat and rodent seroprevalence against 14 different human pathogenic RNA viruses spanning seven virus families ( Coronaviridae, Flaviviridae, Hantaviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Phenuiviridae, Pneumoviridae, Togaviridae ). We retrospectively analyzed 1,135 bat (16 species) and 454 rodent (15 species) blood or transudate specimens collected at 63 sites in seven countries. The tropical bats in our dataset exhibited notably high rates of seropositivity against certain virus families ( Flaviviridae: 42.7%; Paramyxoviridae: 67.7%; Togaviridae : 7.5%). Although confounding factors and sparse data continue to pose challenges to identifying correlates of RNA virus infection in wildlife, multivariable logistic regression models were created to provisionally evaluate the association of tropical bat characteristics with seropositivity. Preliminary findings indicate that large colony size, found among species such as Eidolon helvum and Rousettus aegyptiacus , is a predictor within this dataset of orthoflavi- and orthorubulavirus seroprevalence, consistent with the communal spread of bat-adapted viruses.

PLoS neglected tropical diseasesVol. 20(10)
National Center for Disease Control (IN), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (PA), International Vaccine Institute (KR), Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (DE), Museum für Naturkunde (DE), University of Bonn (DE), Inserm (FR), Universität Hamburg (DE), University of Cologne (DE), Utrecht University (NL), Universität Ulm (DE), Université de Montpellier (FR), Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ), University of Cambridge (GB), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (GH), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (NL), Euroimmun Medizinische Labordiagnostika (Germany) (DE), Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (GA), German Center for Infection Research (DE), Universitätsklinikum Würzburg (DE), Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku (GA), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Biology (CZ), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Freie Universität Berlin (DE), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE), Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (DE)
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Zoonotic diseases and public health
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