Hendra Virus Infection Dynamics in Australian Fruit Bats
Hendra Virus Infection Dynamics in Australian Fruit Bats
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0028678
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发表时间：
2011-12-09
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Zeddeman, Anne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Field, Hume;de Jong, Carol;Zeddeman, Anne
亨德拉病毒是最近在澳大利亚出现的一种人畜共患病。自1994年首次描述以来，该病毒已多次从其野生动物宿主（翼果蝠或“狐蝠”）中溢出，造成马和人类死亡。我们进行了一项为期三年的纵向研究，以检测病毒的尿液中的自由生活的狐蝠（一个假定的排泄途径），调查亨德拉病毒感染动力学。从放置在栖息的狐蝠下面的塑料片上收集的合并尿液样品通过定量RT-PCR筛选亨德拉病毒基因组，使用一组来自基质蛋白基因的引物和探针。在2008年7月1日至2011年6月30日期间，从67个采样事件中共采集并检测了1672份合并尿液样本，其中25%的采样事件和2.5%的尿液样本检出。阳性样本的比例与年份和地点有统计学相关性。研究结果表明，亨德拉病毒的排泄是周期性的，而不是连续性的，并且在昆士兰州的地理位置不同的狐蝠种群中发生。在北领地没有发现任何病毒，这表明在澳大利亚的狐蝠范围内，流行率可能会有所不同。最后，我们的研究结果表明，狐蝠可以在一年中的任何时候排泄病毒，并且马和相关人类中亨德拉病毒事件的明显季节性聚集（70%发生在6月至10月）反映了病毒存在以外的因素。识别这些因素将加强对马和最终对人类的风险最小化策略。
Hendra virus is a recently emerged zoonotic agent in Australia. Since first described in 1994, the virus has spilled from its wildlife reservoir (pteropid fruit bats, or 'flying foxes') on multiple occasions causing equine and human fatalities. We undertook a three-year longitudinal study to detect virus in the urine of free-living flying foxes (a putative route of excretion) to investigate Hendra virus infection dynamics. Pooled urine samples collected off plastic sheets placed beneath roosting flying foxes were screened for Hendra virus genome by quantitative RT-PCR, using a set of primers and probe derived from the matrix protein gene. A total of 1672 pooled urine samples from 67 sampling events was collected and tested between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2011, with 25% of sampling events and 2.5% of urine samples yielding detections. The proportion of positive samples was statistically associated with year and location. The findings indicate that Hendra virus excretion occurs periodically rather than continuously, and in geographically disparate flying fox populations in the state of Queensland. The lack of any detection in the Northern Territory suggests prevalence may vary across the range of flying foxes in Australia. Finally, our findings suggest that flying foxes can excrete virus at any time of year, and that the apparent seasonal clustering of Hendra virus incidents in horses and associated humans (70% have occurred June to October) reflects factors other than the presence of virus. Identification of these factors will strengthen risk minimization strategies for horses and ultimately humans.