De Kesel Wim, Vanden Broecke Bram, Borremans Benny, Fourchault Léa, Willems Elisabeth, Ceulemans Ann, Sabuni Christopher, Massawe Apia, Makundi Rhodes H, Leirs Herwig, Peeters Martine, Verheyen Erik, Gryseels Sophie, Mariën Joachim, Ariën Kevin K
Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2024 Sep 4;18(9):e0012233. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012233. eCollection 2024 Sep.
Over the past decades, the number of arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) outbreaks has increased worldwide. Knowledge regarding the sylvatic cycle (i.e., non-human hosts/environment) of arboviruses is limited, particularly in Africa, and the main hosts for virus maintenance are unknown. Previous studies have shown the presence of antibodies against certain arboviruses (i.e., chikungunya-, dengue-, and Zika virus) in African non-human primates and bats. We hypothesize that small mammals, specifically rodents, may function as amplifying hosts in anthropogenic environments. The detection of RNA of most arboviruses is complicated by the viruses' short viremic period within their hosts. An alternative to determine arbovirus hosts is by detecting antibodies, which can persist several months. Therefore, we developed a high-throughput multiplex immunoassay to detect antibodies against 15 medically relevant arboviruses. We used this assay to assess approximately 1,300 blood samples of the multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis from Tanzania. In 24% of the samples, we detected antibodies against at least one of the tested arboviruses, with high seroprevalences of antibodies reacting against dengue virus serotype one (7.6%) and two (8.4%), and chikungunya virus (6%). Seroprevalence was higher in females and increased with age, which could be explained by inherent immunity and behavioral differences between sexes, and the increased chance of exposure to an arbovirus with age. We evaluated whether antibodies against multiple arboviruses co-occur more often than randomly and found that this may be true for some members of the Flaviviridae and Togaviridae. In conclusion, the development of an assay against a wide diversity of medically relevant arboviruses enabled the analysis of a large sample collection of one of the most abundant African small mammals. Our findings highlight that Mastomys natalensis is involved in the transmission cycle of multiple arboviruses and provide a solid foundation to better understand the role of this ubiquitous rodent in arbovirus outbreaks.
在过去几十年里，节肢动物传播病毒（虫媒病毒）在全球范围内的暴发次数有所增加。关于虫媒病毒的野生传播循环（即非人类宿主/环境）的知识有限，在非洲尤为如此，而且维持病毒传播的主要宿主尚不清楚。此前的研究表明，非洲的非人类灵长类动物和蝙蝠体内存在针对某些虫媒病毒（即基孔肯雅病毒、登革病毒和寨卡病毒）的抗体。我们推测，小型哺乳动物，特别是啮齿动物，可能在人为环境中充当扩增宿主。大多数虫媒病毒的RNA检测因病毒在宿主体内的病毒血症期较短而变得复杂。确定虫媒病毒宿主的另一种方法是检测抗体，抗体可以持续存在数月。因此，我们开发了一种高通量多重免疫测定法，以检测针对15种医学相关虫媒病毒的抗体。我们使用该测定法评估了来自坦桑尼亚的约1300份多乳鼠（非洲巨鼠）的血液样本。在24%的样本中，我们检测到针对至少一种测试虫媒病毒的抗体，其中针对登革病毒1型（7.6%）和2型（8.4%）以及基孔肯雅病毒（6%）的抗体血清阳性率较高。雌性的血清阳性率更高，且随年龄增长而增加，这可能是由于固有免疫力和性别之间的行为差异，以及随着年龄增长接触虫媒病毒的机会增加所致。我们评估了针对多种虫媒病毒的抗体同时出现的频率是否高于随机情况，发现黄病毒科和披膜病毒科的一些成员可能确实如此。总之，针对多种医学相关虫媒病毒的测定法的开发，使得对非洲最丰富的小型哺乳动物之一的大量样本集进行分析成为可能。我们的研究结果突出表明，非洲巨鼠参与了多种虫媒病毒的传播循环，并为更好地理解这种无处不在的啮齿动物在虫媒病毒暴发中的作用提供了坚实的基础。
