title: A new approach for monitoring ebolavirus in wild great apes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Central Africa is a "hotspot" for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of global and local importance, and a current outbreak of ebolavirus is affecting multiple countries simultaneously. Ebolavirus is suspected to have caused recent declines in resident great apes. While ebolavirus vaccines have been proposed as an intervention to protect apes, their effectiveness would be improved if we could diagnostically confirm Ebola virus disease (EVD) as the cause of die-offs, establish ebolavirus geographical distribution, identify immunologically naïve populations, and determine whether apes survive virus exposure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here we report the first successful noninvasive detection of antibodies against Ebola virus (EBOV) from wild ape feces. Using this method, we have been able to identify gorillas with antibodies to EBOV with an overall prevalence rate reaching 10% on average, demonstrating that EBOV exposure or infection is not uniformly lethal in this species. Furthermore, evidence of antibodies was identified in gorillas thought previously to be unexposed to EBOV (protected from exposure by rivers as topological barriers of transmission).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our new approach will contribute to a strategy to protect apes from future EBOV infections by early detection of increased incidence of exposure, by identifying immunologically naïve at-risk populations as potential targets for vaccination, and by providing a means to track vaccine efficacy if such intervention is deemed appropriate. Finally, since human EVD is linked to contact with infected wildlife carcasses, efforts aimed at identifying great ape outbreaks could have a profound impact on public health in local communities, where EBOV causes case-fatality rates of up to 88%.
authors.affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Patricia E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sabue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mulangu
authors.affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kenneth N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alain U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Ondzie
authors.affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Joly
authors.affiliation: Departamento Biologia Animal (Vertebrados), Facultad de Biologia, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bermejo
authors.affiliation: ECOFAC, Libreville, Gabon.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rouquet
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fabozzi
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Zhimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, Frederick National Laboratory, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Brandon F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Keele
authors.affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Karesh
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nancy J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D018420:Ape Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring / Q000662:veterinary*; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000821:virology*; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral