title: Studies of reservoir hosts for Marburg virus.
abstract: To determine reservoir hosts for Marburg virus (MARV), we examined the fauna of a mine in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The mine was associated with a protracted outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever during 1998-2000. We found MARV nucleic acid in 12 bats, comprising 3.0%-3.6% of 2 species of insectivorous bat and 1 species of fruit bat. We found antibody to the virus in the serum of 9.7% of 1 of the insectivorous species and in 20.5% of the fruit bat species, but attempts to isolate virus were unsuccessful.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Sandringham, Republic of South Africa. bobs@nicd.ac.za
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Swanepoel
authors.forename: Sheilagh B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.forename: Pierre E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Rollin
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Formenty
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Leman
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Felicity J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Burt
authors.forename: Antoinette A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Grobbelaar
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Croft
authors.forename: Daniel G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Bausch
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zeller
authors.forename: Herwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leirs
authors.forename: L E O
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Braack
authors.forename: Modeste L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Libande
authors.forename: Sherif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zaki
authors.forename: Stuart T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Nichol
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Ksiazek
authors.forename: Janusz T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Paweska
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D029024:Marburgvirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008906:Mining; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral