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Abstract
Bats, including African straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum), have been highlighted as reservoirs of many recently emerged zoonotic viruses. This common, widespread and ecologically important species was the focus of longitudinal and continent-wide studies of the epidemiological and ecology of Lagos bat virus, henipaviruses and Achimota viruses. Here we present a spatial, morphological, demographic, genetic and serological dataset encompassing 2827 bats from nine countries over an 8-year period. Genetic data comprises cytochrome b mitochondrial sequences (n=608) and microsatellite genotypes from 18 loci (n=544). Tooth-cementum analyses (n=316) allowed derivation of rare age-specific serologic data for a lyssavirus, a henipavirus and two rubulaviruses. This dataset contributes a substantial volume of data on the ecology of E. helvum and its viruses and will be valuable for a wide range of studies, including viral transmission dynamic modelling in age-structured populations, investigation of seasonal reproductive asynchrony in wide-ranging species, ecological niche modelling, inference of island colonisation history, exploration of relationships between island and body size, and various spatial analyses of demographic, morphometric or serological data.
Highlights
Background & SummaryThe straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) is a common, widely distributed, migratory species, occurring across sub-Saharan Africa and some offshore islands (Fig. 1)[1,2]
Since 2007, investigations into the epidemiology and ecology of zoonotic viral infections in E. helvum have been undertaken via longitudinal sampling of wild populations in Ghana
Four viruses were the focus of our serological surveys in E. helvum bats: Lagos bat virus (LBV), African henipaviruses, Achimota virus 1 (AchPV1) and Achimota virus 2 (AchPV2)
Summary
The straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) is a common, widely distributed, migratory species, occurring across sub-Saharan Africa and some offshore islands (Fig. 1)[1,2]. Other publications arising from these samples, but based on analyses not included here, include the development of a universal real-time assay and a pseudotype neutralisation assay for Lyssaviruses[18,19], microsatellite loci characterisation[20], estimation of divergence times between Eidolon sister species[21], inference of movement ecology based on stable isotope ratios[22], demonstration of Ebola antibodies[16,23], identification of multiple novel viruses[24], and novel Bartonella species in bat flies collected from E. helvum[25,26] This dataset contributes a substantial volume of data on the ecology of E. helvum and its viruses and will be valuable for a wide range of studies. Field samples (e.g. serum, blood cells, urine, skin samples) and extracted DNA from individual bats in this dataset exist in storage and the authors are open to collaborative requests to undertake further analyses
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