A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae.

Abstract

Bats and rodents have been identified as reservoir hosts of diverse RNA viruses that pose potential risks to humans. However, overall virus prevalence in wildlife and underlying factors determining the zoonotic potential of reservoir-borne viruses remain poorly characterized. Virus detection often relies on the identification of viral nucleotide sequences and may therefore be limited by variable virus concentration, tissue tropism, sample quality, and duration of infection. In this study, we applied a multiplex immunofluorescence assay to examine bat and rodent seroprevalence against 14 different human pathogenic RNA viruses spanning seven virus families (Coronaviridae, Flaviviridae, Hantaviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Phenuiviridae, Pneumoviridae, Togaviridae). We retrospectively analyzed 1,135 bat (16 species) and 454 rodent (14 species) blood or transudate specimens collected at 63 sites in seven countries. The tropical bats in our dataset exhibited notably high rates of seropositivity against certain virus families (Flaviviridae: 42.7%; Paramyxoviridae: 67.7%; Togaviridae: 7.5%). Although confounding factors and sparse data continue to pose challenges to identifying correlates of RNA virus infection in wildlife, multivariable logistic regression models were created to provisionally evaluate the association of tropical bat characteristics with seropositivity. Preliminary findings indicate that large colony size, found among species such as Eidolon helvum and Rousettus aegyptiacus, is a predictor within this dataset of orthoflavi- and orthorubulavirus seroprevalence, consistent with the communal spread of bat-adapted viruses.