Wanda Markotter

Wanda Markotter
University of Pretoria | UP · Deparment of Medical Virology

PhD

About

234
Publications
39,677
Reads
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3,622
Citations
Additional affiliations
May 2016 - December 2016
University of Pretoria
Position
  • South African Research Chair in Infectious Diseases of Animals (Zoonoses)
January 2006 - April 2016
University of Pretoria
Position
  • Professor (Associate)

Publications

Publications (234)
Article
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Egyptian rousette bats (ERBs) are implicated as reservoir hosts for Marburg virus (MARV), but natural mechanisms involved in maintenance of MARV in ERB populations remain undefined. A number of hematophagous ectoparasites, including fleas, parasitize bats. Subcutaneous (SC) inoculation of ERBs with MARV consistently results in viremia, suggesting t...
Article
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The global demand from multi-sectoral partners for operational tools for One Health implementation and capacity building is increasing, yet a validated global inventory of One Health tools did not exist. Here, we map and analyze available One Health tools and assess their suitability to support One Health implementation, including the One Health Jo...
Article
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Hosting 1460 plant and 126 vertebrate endemic species, the Great Escarpment (hereafter, Escarpment) forms a semi‐circular “amphitheater” of mountains girdling southern Africa from arid west to temperate east. Since arid and temperate biota are usually studied separately, earlier studies overlooked the biogeographical importance of the Escarpment as...
Article
Home range is an ecological concept that affects many aspects of the life of vertebrates and hence understanding how it varies between species is crucial. Mammalian home range size has been linked to body size and diet, but these studies were based predominantly on terrestrial species and most specifically excluded bats. As the only group of flying...
Article
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Over the past two decades, research on bat-associated microbes such as viruses, bacteria and fungi has dramatically increased. Here, we synthesize themes from a conference symposium focused on advances in the research of bats and their microbes, including physiological, immunological, ecological and epidemiological research that has improved our un...
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Africa experiences frequent emerging disease outbreaks among humans, with bats often proposed as zoonotic pathogen hosts. We comprehensively reviewed virus–bat findings from papers published between 1978 and 2020 to evaluate the evidence that African bats are reservoir and/or bridging hosts for viruses that cause human disease. We present data from...
Article
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We report the coding-complete sequence of a lyssavirus, provisionally designated Phala bat lyssavirus (PBLV), characterized using a metagenomics approach. PBLV was identified in a Nycticeinops schlieffeni bat that exhibited neurological signs and died within 24 hours of admission to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Phalaborwa, South Africa.
Article
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We report the genetic characterization of two potentially novel rabies-related lyssaviruses identified from bats in Limpopo province, South Africa. Matlo bat lyssavirus (MBLV) was identified in two Miniopterus natalensis (Natal long-fingered) bats in 2015 and 2016, and Phala bat lyssavirus (PBLV) was identified in a Nycticeinops schlieffeni (Schlie...
Article
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Infections with rabies virus (RABV) and related lyssaviruses are uniformly fatal once virus accesses the central nervous system (CNS) and causes disease signs. Current immunotherapies are thus focused on the early, pre‐symptomatic stage of disease, with the goal of peripheral neutralization of virus to prevent CNS infection. Here, we evaluated the...
Article
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Novel coronavirus species of public health and veterinary importance have emerged in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, with bats identified as natural hosts for progenitors of many coronaviruses. Targeted wildlife surveillance is needed to identify the factors involved in viral perpetuation within natural host populations, and driv...
Article
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Background Bats are increasingly being recognized as important hosts for viruses, some of which are zoonotic and carry the potential for spillover within human and livestock populations. Biosurveillance studies focused on assessing the risk of pathogen transmission, however, have largely focused on the virological component and have not always cons...
Article
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Novel lyssaviruses, the causative agents of rabies, continue to be described mostly due to increased surveillance in bat hosts. Biologicals for the prevention of rabies in humans have, however, remained largely unchanged for decades. This study aimed to determine if commercial rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) could neutralize diverse lyssaviruses. Two c...
Article
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Recent studies have indicated that bats are hosts to diverse filoviruses. Currently, no pan-filovirus molecular assays are available that have been evaluated for the detection of all mammalian filoviruses. In this study, a two-step pan-filovirus SYBR Green real-time PCR assay targeting the nucleoprotein gene was developed for filovirus surveillance...
Article
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In recent years, bats have been shown to host various novel bat-specific influenza viruses, including H17N10 and H18N11 in the Americas and the H9N2 subtype from Africa. Rousettus aegyptiacus (Egyptian Rousette bat) is recognized as a host species for diverse viral agents. This study focused on the molecular surveillance of a maternal colony in Lim...
Article
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Bats are known reservoir hosts for a wide variety of parasites and pathogens, including bacteria and protozoans. Some of these pathogens are vector-borne, and although their role is poorly studied, ectoparasites may contribute significantly to their transmission. The aim of this study was to molecularly detect the presence of vector-borne microorga...
Article
Ten years ago, the genus-level and species-level taxonomy of African pipistrelloid bats was in a state of flux. In spite of advances in the past decade, gaps in collecting from species-rich regions like Angola have hampered efforts to revise this group. We report on new collections of pipistrelle-like bats from the poorly sampled central highlands...
Article
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Accurate host identification is paramount to understand disease epidemiology and to apply appropriate control measures. This is especially important for multi-host pathogens such as the rabies virus, a major and almost invariably fatal zoonosis that has mobilized unanimous engagement at an international level towards the final goal of zero human de...
Article
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Bat-borne viruses in the Henipavirus genus have been associated with zoonotic diseases of high morbidity and mortality in Asia and Australia. In Africa, the Egyptian rousette bat species ( Rousettus aegyptiacus ) is an important viral host in which Henipavirus -related viral sequences have previously been identified. We expanded these findings by a...
Article
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Background Modification and destruction of natural habitats are bringing previously unencountered animal populations into contact with humans, with bats considered important zoonotic transmission vectors. Caves and cave-dwelling bats are under-represented in conservation plans. In South Africa, at least two cavernicolous species are of interest as...
Article
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This study aimed to determine the vector competence of bat-associated nycteribiid flies (Eucamsipoda africana) for Marburg virus (MARV) in the Egyptian Rousette Bat (ERB), Rousettus aegyptiacus. In flies fed on subcutaneously infected ERBs and tested from 3 to 43 days post infection (dpi), MARV was detected only in those that took blood during the...
Article
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Pathogen discovery contributes to our knowledge of bat-borne viruses and is linked to the heightened interest globally in bats as recognised reservoirs of zoonotic agents. The transmission of lyssaviruses from bats-to-humans, domestic animals, or other wildlife species is uncommon, but interest in these pathogens remains due to their ability to cau...
Article
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The reservoir host of Mokola virus (MOKV), a rabies-related lyssavirus species endemic to Africa, remains unknown. Only sporadic cases of MOKV have been reported since its first discovery in the late 1960s, which subsequently gave rise to various reservoir host hypotheses. One particular hypothesis focusing on non-volant small mammals (e.g. shrews,...
Article
Pipistrelloid bats are among the most poorly known bats in Africa, a status no doubt exacerbated by their small size, drab brown fur and general similarity in external morphology. The systematic relationships of these bats have been a matter of debate for decades, and despite some recent molecular studies, much confusion remains. Adding to the conf...
Chapter
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In the last few decades, a special interest in viruses hosted by bats arose after links with zoonoses of public health importance emerged. A dramatic increase in documented viral diversity in bats has occurred with an increasing difficulty in interpretation of results and risk assessments. In addition, the risk of spillover directly from bats or th...
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We detected 3 lyssaviruses in insectivorous bats sampled in South Africa during 2003-2018. We used phylogenetic analysis to identify Duvenhage lyssavirus and a potentially new lyssavirus, provisionally named Matlo bat lyssavirus, that is related to West Caucasian bat virus. These new detections highlight that much about lyssaviruses remains unknown...
Article
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We detected Marburg virus RNA in rectal swab samples from Egyptian rousette bats in South Africa in 2017. This finding signifies that fecal contamination of natural bat habitats is a potential source of infection for humans. Identified genetic sequences are closely related to Ravn virus, implying wider distribution of Marburg virus in Africa
Article
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Fungal Systematics and Evolution (FUSE) is one of the journal series to address the “fusion” between morphological data and molecular phylogenetic data and to describe new fungal taxa and interesting observations. This paper is the 6th contribution in the FUSE series—presenting one new genus, twelve new species, twelve new country records, and thre...
Article
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In Africa, bat‐borne zoonoses emerged in the past few decades resulting in large outbreaks or just sporadic spillovers. In addition, hundreds of more viruses are described without any information on zoonotic potential. We discuss important characteristics of bats including bat biology, evolution, distribution and ecology that not only make them uni...
Chapter
Large viral diversities have been detected from bats using nucleic acid detection methods; however, cell culture isolation of this diversity has been less successful. Virus isolation attempts are limited by challenges that primarily include suitability of available cell lines, quality of infectious viral particles and high levels of biocontainment....
Chapter
The infection of bats with rabies has been described for decades. Rabies is caused by members of the lyssavirus genus and currently 16 different lyssaviruses have been defined. Bat rabies in the New World is predominantly associated with vampire bats across Central and South America although with the elimination of terrestrial rabies in North Ameri...
Article
Pipistrelloid bats are among the most poorly known bats in Africa, a status no doubt exacerbated by their small size, drab brown fur and general similarity in external morphology. The systematic relationships of these bats have been a matter of debate for decades, and despite some recent molecular studies, much confusion remains. Adding to the conf...
Article
Understanding geographic patterns of interaction between hosts and parasites can provide useful insight into the evolutionary history of the organisms involved. However, poor taxon sampling often hinders meaningful phylogenetic descriptions of groups of parasites. Trypanosome parasites that constitute the Trypanosoma cruzi clade are worldwide distr...
Article
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Rabies is a neglected disease mostly affecting the developing world. Accurate and reliable diagnostic and surveillance data forms the foundation for the formulation and monitoring of control strategies. Although various sensitive and specific tests are available for detection of rabies virus, implementation of these tests in low-resource settings a...
Article
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A high diversity of corona-and paramyxoviruses have been detected in different bat species at study sites worldwide, including Africa, however no biosurveillance studies from Rwanda have been reported. In this study, samples from bats collected from caves in Ruhengeri, Rwanda, were tested for the presence of corona-and paramyxoviral RNA using rever...
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Background: Spotted fever rickettsiosis, also known as tick bite fever (TBF), is a common infectious disease in South Africa (SA). Although the diagnosis of TBF is often based on clinical grounds only, laboratory testing is important to confirm the diagnosis and can contribute to case management in the light of a myriad of differential diagnoses,...
Article
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Mist nets, harp traps and roost searches resulted in the eight bat species being recorded in Telperion Nature Reserve, which is in a transition between the Savanna and Grassland biomes. The majority of these were species in the family Vespertilionidae. Anabat release calls were recorded from three species. Sexual dimorphism in external body size, a...
Article
Zika (ZIKV) and Spondweni viruses (SPOV) are closely related mosquito borne flaviviruses in the Spondweni serogroup. The co-circulation and similar disease presentation following ZIKV and SPOV infection necessitates the development of a diagnostic tool for their simultaneous detection and distinction. We developed a one-step multiplex real-time RT-...
Article
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Given the recurrent bat‐associated disease outbreaks in humans and recent advances in metagenomics sequencing, the microbiota of bats is increasingly being studied. However, obtaining biological samples directly from wild individuals may represent a challenge, and thus, indirect passive sampling (without capturing bats) is sometimes used as an alte...
Article
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Canine-mediated human rabies is endemic to the entire African continent, where the disease burden is often highest in rural communities of resource-limited countries. In this study, we analysed an animal rabies outbreak, which had persisted since 2010 in the predominantly metropolitan capital city of Zimbabwe, Harare. As rabies is considered to dis...
Data
A panel of rabies virus partial DNA sequences from Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries included in the phylogenetic analysis performed in this study. (PDF)
Data
Epidemiological surveillance data collected between 2010 and 2017 in and around the Harare city limits during an outbreak of canine-mediated rabies. (PDF)
Data
Distribution of rabies-positive samples within the suburbs and peri-urban areas of the Harare Metropolitan province during the outbreak, 2010–2017. (PDF)
Article
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The Egyptian rousette bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) has previously been implicated as the natural host of a zoonotic rubulavirus; however, its association with rubulaviruses has been studied to a limited extent. Urine, spleen, and other organs collected from the R. aegyptiacus population within South Africa were tested with a hemi-nested RT-PCR assay...
Article
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Lactation is one of the most energetically demanding periods in the life cycle of a small mammal. Classified as income breeders, hibernating small colonial insectivorous bats are hypothesised to compensate for the energetic demand of lactation by increasing daily food intake, which increases body mass. The Natal Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus natale...
Article
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In 2018, the family Arenaviridae was expanded by inclusion of 1 new genus and 5 novel species. At the same time, the recently established order Bunyavirales was expanded by 3 species. This article presents the updated taxonomy of the family Arenaviridae and the order Bunyavirales as now accepted by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses...
Article
Bats (order Chiroptera) are the principal reservoir host for 14 of the 16 officially recognised lyssavirus species. Rabies virus is the only lyssavirus that is well established in terrestrial carnivores (worldwide), as well as bats (but only in the Americas). The other bat lyssaviruses occur only outside the Americas. They have a distinct geographi...
Article
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Recently a number of novel adenoviruses have been isolated from diverse bat species and from diverse geographical locations. We describe the isolation of a novel adenovirus (Family Adenoviridae, genus Mastadenovirus) from a pool of liver and spleen tissue of an apparently healthy wild-caught Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) in South Afric...
Article
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We detected high seroprevalence to Marburg virus (MARV) in fruit bats in South Africa (SA), the occurrence of MARV seroconversions, and the presence of RNA in tissues with a sequence closely related to the 1975 Ozolin strain. All these findings indicate endemic MARV circulation in bats in SA.
Article
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Seasonal reproduction is a period of extreme physiological and behavioural changes, yet we know little about how it may affect host microbial communities (i.e. microbiota) and pathogen transmission. Here, we investigated shifts of the bacterial microbiota in saliva, urine and faeces during the seasonal reproduction of bats in South Africa, and test...
Data
Supplementary Material from “Synchronized shift of oral, fecal and urinary microbiotas in bats and natural infection dynamics during seasonal reproduction”
Article
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Abstract Understanding the processes driving parasite assemblages is particularly important in the context of zoonotic infectious diseases. Leptospirosis is a widespread zoonotic bacterial infection caused by pathogenic species of the genus Leptospira. Despite a wide range of animal hosts, information is still lacking on the factors shaping Leptosp...
Article
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Species within the Neoromicia bat genus are abundant and widely distributed in Africa. It is common for these insectivorous bats to roost in anthropogenic structures in urban regions. Additionally, Neoromicia capensis have previously been identified as potential hosts for Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-related coronaviruses. This study aim...
Data
Virome sequence data information from the Parvoviridae and Papillomaviridae families (with references and figures). (DOCX)
Data
Neoromicia samples pooled for molecular detection of selected viruses. (PDF)
Data
Pairwise similarities inferred from distance estimations of a 605bp conserved segment of the coronavirus RNA dependent RNA polymerase gene. The table shows pairwise sequence similarities inferred from evolutionary divergence estimates of 605 positions of compared coronaviruses. The number of base differences per site from between sequences were con...
Data
CLC Genomics workbench bioinformatics workflow parameters. (PDF)
Data
Alpha- and Betacoronavirus genera hemi-nested RT-PCR primers. (PDF)