De Coninck Lander, Hadermann Amber, Ingletto Ludovica, Colebunders Robert, Gamnsi Njamnshi Kongnyu, Njamnshi Alfred Kongnyu, Mokili John L, Siewe Fodjo Joseph Nelson, Matthijnssens Jelle
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, Laboratory of Viral Metagenomics, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49 box 1040, Leuven 3000, Belgium.
Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Gouverneur Kinsbergencentrum, Doornstraat 331, Antwerp 2610, Belgium.
Virus Evol. 2025 Apr 5;11(1):veaf024. doi: 10.1093/ve/veaf024. eCollection 2025.
Strong epidemiological evidence suggests that onchocerciasis may be associated with epilepsy-hence the name onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE). However, the pathogenesis of OAE still needs to be elucidated, as recent studies have failed to detect in the central nervous system of persons with OAE. Therefore, it was suggested that a potentially neurotropic virus transmitted by blackflies could play a role in triggering OAE. To investigate this hypothesis, adult blackflies were collected in an onchocerciasis-endemic area with a high OAE prevalence in the Ntui Health District, Cameroon. A viral particle-based shotgun sequencing approach was used to detect viral sequences in 55 pools of 10 blackflies. A very high abundance of viral reads was detected across multiple (novel) viral families, including viral families associated with human disease. Although no genomes closely related to known neurotropic viruses were found in the blackfly virome, the plethora of novel viruses representing novel species, genera and even families warrant further exploration for their potential to infect vertebrates. These results could serve as a first step for studying the viruses associated with the haematophagous blackfly, which also could be present in their nematode host . Exploring the diversity of viruses in blackflies should be included in the active surveillance of zoonotic diseases.
强有力的流行病学证据表明,盘尾丝虫病可能与癫痫有关——因此有了盘尾丝虫病相关性癫痫(OAE)这一名称。然而,OAE的发病机制仍有待阐明,因为最近的研究未能在OAE患者的中枢神经系统中检测到 。因此,有人提出,由蚋传播的一种潜在嗜神经病毒可能在触发OAE中起作用。为了研究这一假设,在喀麦隆恩图伊健康区一个OAE患病率很高的盘尾丝虫病流行地区收集了成年蚋。采用基于病毒颗粒的鸟枪法测序方法,在由10只蚋组成的55个样本库中检测病毒序列。在多个(新的)病毒家族中检测到了非常高丰度的病毒读数,包括与人类疾病相关的病毒家族。尽管在蚋病毒组中未发现与已知嗜神经病毒密切相关的基因组,但大量代表新物种、属甚至科的新病毒值得进一步探索它们感染脊椎动物的潜力。这些结果可作为研究与吸血蚋相关病毒的第一步,这些病毒也可能存在于它们的线虫宿主中。探索蚋体内病毒的多样性应纳入人畜共患病的主动监测中。
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