title: Arteriviruses, Pegiviruses, and Lentiviruses Are Common among Wild African Monkeys.
abstract: Nonhuman primates (NHPs) are a historically important source of zoonotic viruses and are a gold-standard model for research on many human pathogens. However, with the exception of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) (family Retroviridae), the blood-borne viruses harbored by these animals in the wild remain incompletely characterized. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of two novel simian pegiviruses (family Flaviviridae) and two novel simian arteriviruses (family Arteriviridae) in wild African green monkeys from Zambia (malbroucks [Chlorocebus cynosuros]) and South Africa (vervet monkeys [Chlorocebus pygerythrus]). We examine several aspects of infection, including viral load, genetic diversity, evolution, and geographic distribution, as well as host factors such as age, sex, and plasma cytokines. In combination with previous efforts to characterize blood-borne RNA viruses in wild primates across sub-Saharan Africa, these discoveries demonstrate that in addition to SIV, simian pegiviruses and simian arteriviruses are widespread and prevalent among many African cercopithecoid (i.e., Old World) monkeys.
  
  
  
  Primates are an important source of viruses that infect humans and serve as an important laboratory model of human virus infection. Here, we discover two new viruses in African green monkeys from Zambia and South Africa. In combination with previous virus discovery efforts, this finding suggests that these virus types are widespread among African monkeys. Our analysis suggests that one of these virus types, the simian arteriviruses, may have the potential to jump between different primate species and cause disease. In contrast, the other virus type, the pegiviruses, are thought to reduce the disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in humans. However, we did not observe a similar protective effect in SIV-infected African monkeys coinfected with pegiviruses, possibly because SIV causes little to no disease in these hosts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.|Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: Adam L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.|Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lauck
authors.affiliation: Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Ria R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Ghai
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Chase W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.|Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: Katelyn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heimbruch
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Austin L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.|Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: Tony L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.affiliation: Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Jens H
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7800-6045
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Anna J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Jasinska
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Nelson B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Freimer
authors.affiliation: Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.|Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Apetrei
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA doconnor@primate.wisc.edu.|Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D018018:Arterivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018174:Arterivirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D016086:Lentivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016180:Lentivirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D019562:Viral Load