Investigation of astrovirus, coronavirus and paramyxovirus co-infections in bats in the western Indian Ocean

Axel O G Hoarau,Dana Al Halabi,Beza Ramasindrazana,M Corrie Schoeman,Camille Lebarbenchon,Andréa Dos Santos,Patrick Mavingui,Gildas Le Minter,Erwan Lagadec,Marie Köster,Steven M Goodman,Eduardo S Gudo

doi:10.1186/s12985-021-01673-2

Abstract

Co-infections have a key role in virus transmission in wild reservoir hosts. We investigated the simultaneous presence of astroviruses, coronaviruses, and paramyxoviruses in bats from Madagascar, Mayotte, Mozambique, and Reunion Island. A total of 871 samples from 28 bat species representing 8 families were tested by polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) targeting the RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase genes. Overall, 2.4% of bats tested positive for the presence of at least two viruses, only on Madagascar and in Mozambique. Significant variation in the proportion of co-infections was detected among bat species, and some combinations of co-infection were more common than others. Our findings support that co-infections of the three targeted viruses occur in bats in the western Indian Ocean region, although further studies are needed to assess their epidemiological consequences.

Highlights

Co-infections have a key role in virus transmission in wild reservoir hosts
Many studies have focused on the detection of emerging viruses such as astroviruses (AstVs), coronaviruses (CoVs), and paramyxoviruses (PMVs), limited data is available regarding co-infection patterns and its potential effect on host fitness and disease transmission dynamics [8,9,10,11,12,13]
We have investigated the presence of either AstVs, CoVs or PMVs in bats in the western Indian Ocean (WIO) region [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]

Summary

Introduction

Co-infections have a key role in virus transmission in wild reservoir hosts. We investigated the simultaneous presence of astroviruses, coronaviruses, and paramyxoviruses in bats from Madagascar, Mayotte, Mozambique, and Reunion Island. Many studies have focused on the detection of emerging viruses such as astroviruses (AstVs), coronaviruses (CoVs), and paramyxoviruses (PMVs), limited data is available regarding co-infection patterns and its potential effect on host fitness and disease transmission dynamics [8,9,10,11,12,13].

Results

Conclusion