Ghosts of infections past: using archival samples to understand a century of monkeypox virus prevalence among host communities across space and time.

Madeline S Tiee,Ryan J Harrigan,Henri A Thomassen,Thomas B Smith

doi:10.1098/rsos.171089

Madeline S Tiee, Ryan J Harrigan + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171089

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Abstract

Infectious diseases that originate from multiple wildlife hosts can be complex and problematic to manage. A full understanding is further limited by large temporal and spatial gaps in sampling. However, these limitations can be overcome, in part, by using historical samples, such as those derived from museum collections. Here, we screened over 1000 museum specimens collected over the past 120 years to examine the historical distribution and prevalence of monkeypox virus (MPXV) in five species of African rope squirrel (Funisciurus sp.) collected across Central Africa. We found evidence of MPXV infections in host species as early as 1899, half a century earlier than the first recognized case of MPXV in 1958, supporting the suggestion that historic pox-like outbreaks in humans and non-human primates may have been caused by MPXV rather than smallpox as originally thought. MPX viral DNA was found in 93 of 1038 (9.0%) specimens from five Funisciurus species (F. anerythrus, F. carruthersi, F. congicus, F. lemniscatus and F. pyrropus), of which F. carruthersi and pyrropus had not previously been identified as potential MPXV hosts. We additionally documented relative prevalence rates of infection in museum specimens of Funisciurus and examined the spatial and temporal distribution of MPXV in these potential host species across nearly a hundred years (1899–1993).

Highlights

Infectious diseases that originate from multiple wildlife hosts can be complex and problematic to manage
We found evidence of monkeypox virus (MPXV) circulating in host species as early as 1899, identified two new potential host species (F. carruthersi and pyrropus) and verified MPXV infections within F. anerythrus, congicus and lemniscatus
All positive samples belonged to the Congo-Basin strain of MPXV and were found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), except for one in the Central African Republic, with large numbers of positives occurring in the northwestern provinces of Kivu and Orientale, the southern province of Kasai-Occidental and the eastern provinces of Bandundu, Équateur and Bas-Congo

Summary

Introduction

Infectious diseases that originate from multiple wildlife hosts can be complex and problematic to manage. We found evidence of MPXV infections in host species as early as 1899, half a century earlier than the first recognized case of MPXV in 1958, supporting the suggestion that historic pox-like outbreaks in humans and non-human primates may have been caused by MPXV rather than smallpox as originally thought. We documented relative prevalence rates of infection in museum specimens of Funisciurus and examined the spatial and temporal distribution of MPXV in these potential host species across nearly a hundred years (1899–1993). As long as the assumptions inherent to these methods are acknowledged and when possible controlled for (such as sampling bias or the effects of specimen preparation and preservation methodology on DNA quality and amplification), museum sampling can be valuable for identifying potential host species and understanding broad geographical and temporal patterns of disease, especially in regions difficult to sample. The first recorded description of MPXV occurred in 1958; reports of pox-like outbreaks occur as early as 1936 in non-human primates and may be attributed to MPXV instead of smallpox [18]

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