Hantavirus in bat, Sierra Leone.

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LETTERS
Hantavirus in Bat,
S ierra Leone
To the Editor: Hantaviruses
(family Bunyaviridae) are transmitted
from rodent reservoirs to humans.
These viruses cause life-threatening
human diseases:
cardiopulmonary syndrome in the
Americas and hemorrhagic fever
with renal syndrome in Asia and
Europe (1). Since 2006, indigenous
hantaviruses were reported also from
Africa. Sangassou virus was found in
an African wood mouse (Hylomyscus
simus) in Guinea (2). Discovery of
newer African hantaviruses, Tanganya
virus and recently Azagny virus, was
even more surprising because they
were found in shrews (3,4).
The detection of hantaviruses in
small mammals other than rodents,
such as shrews and also moles (4),
increasingly raises questions regarding
the real hantavirus host range.
Bats (order Chiroptera) are already
known to harbor a broad variety of
emerging pathogens, including other
bunyaviruses (5). Their ability to fl y
hantavirus
Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 18, No. 1, January 2012 159

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LETTERS
and social life history enable effi cient
pathogen maintenance, evolution,
and spread. Therefore, we conducted
a study on hantaviruses in bats from
Africa.
A total of 525 tissue samples
from 417 bats representing 28 genera
were tested for the presence of
hantavirus RNA. Samples originated
from different regions in western and
central Africa and were collected
during 2009 and early 2011. Total RNA
was extracted from tissue samples
and reverse transcribed. cDNA was
screened by PCR specifi c for sequences
of the large genomic segment across
the genus Hantavirus (2).
One sample yielded a product of
the expected size and was subjected to
cloning and sequencing. The positive
sample (MGB/1209) was obtained
from 1 of 18 investigated slit-faced
bats (family Nycteridae). The animal
was trapped at the Magboi River
within Gola National Park, Sierra
Leone (7°50.194′N, 10°38.626′W),
and the identifi cation as Nycteris
hispida has been verifi ed with the
voucher specimen
Histologic examination of organs
of the animal showed no obvious
pathologic fi ndings.
The obtained 414-nt sequence
covers a genomic region, which was
found to correspond to nt position
2,918–3,332 in the large segment
open reading frame of prototypic
Hantaan virus. Bioinformatic analysis
on the amino acid level showed
highest degrees of identity to shrew-
and mole-associated
(Thottapalayam
Altai virus 69.7%, Nova and Imjin
virus 69.3%). On the basis of tree
topology of a maximum-likelihood
phylogenetic tree, the sequence does
not cluster with rodent-associated
hantaviruses but groups with those
found in shrews and moles (Figure).
Considering
more closely related to shrews and
moles than to rodents (6), a certain
genetic similarity of a putative
(RCJF529).
hantaviruses
virus 73.0%,
that bats are
bat-borne hantavirus with shrew-
and mole-associated hantaviruses
seems reasonable. Notably, shrew-
associated Thottapalayam
(India) and Imjin virus (South Korea)
seem to be closer relatives, and
African Tanganya virus (Guinea)
and Azagny virus (Côte d’Ivoire) are
more distantly related. Additional
sequence data is needed for more
conclusive phylogenetic analyses.
Because the new amino acid
sequence is at least 22% divergent
virus
from those of other hantaviruses, we
conclude that the bat was infected
with a newly found hantavirus.
We propose the putative name
Magboi virus (MGBV) for the new
virus because it was detected in
an animal captured at the Magboi
River in Sierra Leone. The MGBV
nucleotide sequence is novel and has
not been known or handled before
in our laboratory. Before this study,
hantavirus nucleic acid was found in
lung and kidney tissues of bats from
160 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 18, No. 1, January 2012
Figure. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of MGB/1209 virus based on partial
large segment sequence (414 nt) and showing the phylogenetic placement of the novel
sequence from Nycteris spp. bat compared with hantaviruses associated (i) with shrews
and moles: Altai virus (ALTV), Artybash virus (ARTV), Asama virus (ASAV), Ash River virus
(ARRV), Azagny virus (AZGV), Camp Ripley virus (RPLV), Cao Bang virus (CBNV), Imjin
virus (MJNV), Jemez Springs virus (JMSV), Kenkeme virus (KKMV), Nova virus (NVAV),
Oxbow virus (OXBV), Seewis virus (SWSV), Tanganya virus (TGNV), Thottapalayam virus
(TPMV), and (ii) with rodents: Andes virus (ANDV), Choclo virus (CHOV), Dobrava-Belgrade
virus (DOBV), Hantaan virus (HTNV), Laguna Negra virus (LNV), Maporal virus (MAPV),
Puumala virus (PUUV), Rio Mamore virus (RIOMV), Sangassou virus (SANGV), Seoul
virus (SEOV), Serang virus (SERV), Sin Nombre virus (SNV), Soochong virus (SOOV),
Tula virus (TULV), Vladivostok virus (VLAV). The list of the accession numbers used in
the analysis is available from the authors upon request. The tree was computed by using
MEGA5 (http://www.megasoftware.net). The Tamura 3-parameter model with gamma-
distributed rate heterogeneity and a proportion of invariant sites (T92 +G + I) was selected
as the best fi t evolutionary model according to the Baeysian information criterion calculated
with MEGA5. The values at the tree branches are the bootstrap support values calculated
from 500 replicates. Scale bar indicates an evolutionary distance of 0.2 substitutions
per position in the sequence. The gray areas indicate association of hantaviruses with
reservoir host families. The MGB/1209 partial sequence of the large genomic segment was
deposited in GenBank under accession no. JN037851.

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LETTERS
the genera Eptesicus and Rhinolophus
in South Korea. However, nucleotide
sequencing showed the presence of
prototypical Hantaan virus indicating
a spillover infection or laboratory
contamination (7).
Further screening is necessary
to confi rm N. hispida as a natural
reservoir host of the virus. Although
the presented
sequence is obviously distinct from
other hantaviruses, which suggests
association with a novel natural host,
a spillover infection from another,
yet unrecognized host cannot be
ruled out. However, detection of the
virus exclusively in 1 organ (lung
but not in liver, kidney, and spleen;
data not shown) suggests a persistent
infection that is typically observed in
natural hosts of hantaviruses (8).
To date, only a few reports exist
on cases of hemorrhagic fever with
renal syndrome in Africa (9,10).
However, underreporting must be
assumed because the symptoms
resemble those of many other febrile
infections. Moreover, in cases of
infections by non–rodent-associated
hantaviruses, cross-reactivity with
routinely used rodent-borne virus
antigens should be limited and may
hamper human
(1). The results suggest that bats,
which are hosts of many emerging
pathogens (5), may act as natural
reservoirs for hantavirus. The effect
of this virus on public health remains
to be determined.
bat-associated
serodiagnostics
This study was supported by
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant
KR1293/9-1). Work in Sierra Leone was
supported by the Gola Forest Project.
National and local authorities in Sierra
Leone, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, and
Republic of Congo kindly granted research
and export permits. N.D.W. is supported
by an award from the National Institutes
of Health Director’s Pioneer Award (grant
DP1-OD000370).
Sabrina Weiss,1
Peter T. Witkowski,1
Brita Auste, Kathrin Nowak,
Natalie Weber, Jakob Fahr,
Jean-Vivien Mombouli,
Nathan D. Wolfe,
Jan Felix Drexler,
Christian Drosten,
Boris Klempa,
Fabian H. Leendertz,
and Detlev H. Kruger
Author affi liations: Robert Koch-Institute,
Berlin, Germany (S. Weiss, K. Nowak, F.H.
Leendertz); Charité School of Medicine,
Berlin (P.T. Witkowski, B. Auste, B. Klempa,
D.H. Kruger); Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
(N. Weber); University of Braunschweig,
Braunschweig, Germany
Laboratoire National de Santé Publique,
Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo (J.-V.
Mombouli); Stanford University Program in
Human Biology, Stanford, California, USA
(N.D. Wolfe); University of Bonn Medical
Centre, Bonn, Germany (J.F. Drexler, C.
Drosten); and Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Bratislava, Slovakia (B. Klempa)
(J. Fahr);
DOI: http://dx. doi.org/10.3201/eid1801.111026
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Address for correspondence: Detlev H. Kruger,
Institute of Medical Virology, Helmut-Ruska-
Haus, Charité Medical School, Charitéplatz
1, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; email: detlev.
kruger@charite.de
Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 18, No. 1, January 2012 161
1These authors contributed equally to this
article.