Novel Highly Divergent Reassortant Bat Rotaviruses in Cameroon, Without Evidence of Zoonosis

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2016 Sep 27

PMID 27666390

Citations 27

Authors

Claude Kwe Yinda

Mark Zeller

Nadia Conceicao-Neto

Piet Maes

Ward Deboutte

Leen Beller

Elisabeth Heylen

Stephen Mbigha Ghogomu

Marc Van Ranst

Jelle Matthijnssens

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Bats are an important reservoir for zoonotic viruses. To date, only three RVA strains have been reported in bats in Kenya and China. In the current study we investigated the genetic diversity of RVAs in fecal samples from 87 straw-colored fruit bats living in close contact with humans in Cameroon using viral metagenomics. Five (near) complete RVA genomes were obtained. A single RVA strain showed a partial relationship with the Kenyan bat RVA strain, whereas the other strains were completely novel. Only the VP7 and VP4 genes showed significant variability, indicating the occurrence of frequent reassortment events. Comparing these bat RVA strains with currently used human RVA screening primers indicated that most of the novel VP7 and VP4 segments would not be detected in routine epidemiological screening studies. Therefore, novel consensus screening primers were developed and used to screen samples from infants with gastroenteritis living in close proximity with the studied bat population. Although RVA infections were identified in 36% of the infants, there was no evidence of zoonosis. This study identified multiple novel bat RVA strains, but further epidemiological studies in humans will have to assess if these viruses have the potential to cause gastroenteritis in humans.

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