Evidence for circulation of Rift Valley fever virus in wildlife and domestic animals in a forest environment in Gabon, Central Africa

by Pierre Becquart, Linda Bohou Kombila, Telstar Ndong Mebaley, Christophe Paupy, D éborah Garcia, Nicolas Nesi, Marie-Marie Olive, Jessica Vanhomwegen, Larson Boundenga, Illich Manfred Mombo, Camille Piro-Mégy, Matthieu Fritz, Léadisaelle Hosanna Lenguiya, Meriadeg Ar Gouilh, Eric M. Leroy, Nadine N’Dilimabaka, Catherine Cêtre-Sossah, Gael Darren Maganga Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis caused by the Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) that can infect domestic and wild animals. Although the RVFV transmission cycle has been well documented across Africa in savanna ecosystems, little is known about its transmission in tropical rainforest settings, particularly in Central Africa. We therefore conducted a survey in northeastern Gabon to assess RVFV circulation among wild and domestic animals. Among 163 wildlife samples tested using RVFV-specific RT-qPCR, four ruminants belonging to subfamily Cephalophinae were detected positive. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the four RVFV sequences clustered together with a virus isolated in Namibia within the well-structured Egyptian clade. A cross-sectional survey conducted on sheep, goats and dogs living in villages within the same area determined the IgG RVFV-specific antibody prevalence using cELISA. Out of the 306 small ruminants tested (214 goats, 92 sheep), an overall antibody prevalence of 15.4% (95% CI [11.5 –19.9]) was observed with a higher rate in goats than in sheep (20.1%versus 3.3%). RVFV-s...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research