Viral Special Pathogens Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
PLoS Pathog. 2012;8(10):e1002877. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002877. Epub 2012 Oct 4.
Marburg virus (family Filoviridae) causes sporadic outbreaks of severe hemorrhagic disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Bats have been implicated as likely natural reservoir hosts based most recently on an investigation of cases among miners infected in 2007 at the Kitaka mine, Uganda, which contained a large population of Marburg virus-infected Rousettus aegyptiacus fruit bats. Described here is an ecologic investigation of Python Cave, Uganda, where an American and a Dutch tourist acquired Marburg virus infection in December 2007 and July 2008. More than 40,000 R. aegyptiacus were found in the cave and were the sole bat species present. Between August 2008 and November 2009, 1,622 bats were captured and tested for Marburg virus. Q-RT-PCR analysis of bat liver/spleen tissues indicated 2.5% of the bats were actively infected, seven of which yielded Marburg virus isolates. Moreover, Q-RT-PCR-positive lung, kidney, colon and reproductive tissues were found, consistent with potential for oral, urine, fecal or sexual transmission. The combined data for R. aegyptiacus tested from Python Cave and Kitaka mine indicate low level horizontal transmission throughout the year. However, Q-RT-PCR data show distinct pulses of virus infection in older juvenile bats (six months of age) that temporarily coincide with the peak twice-yearly birthing seasons. Retrospective analysis of historical human infections suspected to have been the result of discrete spillover events directly from nature found 83% (54/65) events occurred during these seasonal pulses in virus circulation, perhaps demonstrating periods of increased risk of human infection. The discovery of two tags at Python Cave from bats marked at Kitaka mine, together with the close genetic linkages evident between viruses detected in geographically distant locations, are consistent with R. aegyptiacus bats existing as a large meta-population with associated virus circulation over broad geographic ranges. These findings provide a basis for developing Marburg hemorrhagic fever risk reduction strategies.
马尔堡病毒（丝状病毒科）在撒哈拉以南非洲地区引起散发性严重出血热。最近的研究表明，蝙蝠可能是该病毒的天然储存宿主，这是基于在乌干达基特卡（Kitaka）矿对 2007 年矿工感染病例的调查结果得出的。在该矿发现了大量感染马尔堡病毒的埃及果蝠（Rousettus aegyptiacus）。本文描述了对乌干达 Python 洞穴的生态调查结果，2007 年 12 月和 2008 年 7 月，两名美国和荷兰游客在该洞穴感染了马尔堡病毒。在洞穴中发现了超过 40000 只埃及果蝠，这是唯一存在的蝙蝠物种。2008 年 8 月至 2009 年 11 月，共捕获了 1622 只蝙蝠并进行了马尔堡病毒检测。对蝙蝠肝/脾组织的 Q-RT-PCR 分析表明，约有 2.5%的蝙蝠处于活跃感染状态，其中 7 只蝙蝠分离出了马尔堡病毒。此外，还发现了 Q-RT-PCR 阳性的肺、肾、结肠和生殖组织，这表明存在通过口腔、尿液、粪便或性传播的可能。从 Python 洞穴和 Kitaka 矿检测的埃及果蝠的综合数据表明，全年都存在低水平的水平传播。然而，Q-RT-PCR 数据显示，在年龄较大的幼蝠（约 6 个月大）中，病毒感染存在明显的脉冲，这与每年两次的生育高峰期暂时吻合。对疑似由自然离散溢出事件直接导致的历史人类感染的回顾性分析发现，83%（54/65）的事件发生在病毒循环的季节性脉冲期间，这也许表明人类感染的风险增加。在 Python 洞穴中发现了来自 Kitaka 矿标记的两只蝙蝠，以及在地理位置遥远的地方检测到的病毒之间存在密切的遗传联系，这表明埃及果蝠作为一个大型的集合种群存在，病毒在广泛的地理范围内循环。这些发现为制定减少马尔堡出血热风险的策略提供了依据。
