Buechler Connor R, Bailey Adam L, Weiler Andrea M, Barry Gabrielle L, Breitbach Meghan E, Stewart Laurel M, Jasinska Anna J, Freimer Nelson B, Apetrei Cristian, Phillips-Conroy Jane E, Jolly Clifford J, Rogers Jeffrey, Friedrich Thomas C, O'Connor David H
Department of Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
mSphere. 2017 Mar 8;2(2). doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00392-16. eCollection 2017 Mar-Apr.
Zika virus (ZIKV) has recently spread through the Americas and has been associated with a range of health effects, including birth defects in children born to women infected during pregnancy. Although the natural reservoir of ZIKV remains poorly defined, the virus was first identified in a captive "sentinel" macaque monkey in Africa in 1947. However, the virus has not been reported in humans or nonhuman primates (NHPs) in Africa outside Gabon in over a decade. Here, we examine ZIKV infection in 239 wild baboons and African green monkeys from South Africa, the Gambia, Tanzania, and Zambia using combinations of unbiased deep sequencing, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR), and an antibody capture assay that we optimized using serum collected from captive macaque monkeys exposed to ZIKV, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. While we did not find evidence of active ZIKV infection in wild NHPs in Africa, we found variable ZIKV seropositivity of up to 16% in some of the NHP populations sampled. We anticipate that these results and the methodology described within will help in continued efforts to determine the prevalence, natural reservoir, and transmission dynamics of ZIKV in Africa and elsewhere. Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus originally discovered in a captive monkey living in the Zika Forest of Uganda, Africa, in 1947. Recently, an outbreak in South America has shown that ZIKV infection can cause myriad health effects, including birth defects in the children of women infected during pregnancy. Here, we sought to investigate ZIKV infection in wild African primates to better understand its emergence and spread, looking for evidence of active or prior infection. Our results suggest that up to 16% of some populations of nonhuman primate were, at some point, exposed to ZIKV. We anticipate that this study will be useful for future studies that examine the spread of infections from wild animals to humans in general and those studying ZIKV in primates in particular.
寨卡病毒（ZIKV）最近在美洲地区传播，并与一系列健康影响相关联，包括孕期感染该病毒的女性所生子女出现出生缺陷。尽管寨卡病毒的天然宿主仍未明确界定，但该病毒于1947年首次在非洲一只圈养的“哨兵”猕猴身上被发现。然而，十多年来，除加蓬外，非洲其他地区尚未有该病毒在人类或非人类灵长类动物（NHP）中出现的报告。在此，我们运用无偏差深度测序、定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）以及一种抗体捕获检测方法，对来自南非、冈比亚、坦桑尼亚和赞比亚的239只野生狒狒和非洲绿猴进行寨卡病毒感染检测。该抗体捕获检测方法是我们利用从接触过寨卡病毒、登革热病毒和黄热病病毒的圈养猕猴采集的血清进行优化的。虽然我们在非洲野生非人类灵长类动物中未发现寨卡病毒活跃感染的证据，但在一些抽样的非人类灵长类动物群体中，我们发现寨卡病毒血清阳性率高达16%。我们预计，这些结果以及本文所述方法将有助于继续努力确定寨卡病毒在非洲及其他地区的流行情况、天然宿主和传播动态。寨卡病毒（ZIKV）是一种通过蚊子传播的病毒，1947年最初在非洲乌干达寨卡森林中一只圈养的猴子身上被发现。最近，南美洲的一次疫情表明，寨卡病毒感染可导致多种健康影响，包括孕期感染该病毒的女性所生子女出现出生缺陷。在此，我们试图调查非洲野生灵长类动物中的寨卡病毒感染情况，以更好地了解其出现和传播过程，寻找活跃感染或既往感染的证据。我们的结果表明，某些非人类灵长类动物群体中高达16%在某个时间点接触过寨卡病毒。我们预计，这项研究将对未来一般研究野生动物向人类传播感染以及特别研究灵长类动物中的寨卡病毒的研究有用。
