Abstract
BackgroundThe genus Ebolavirus of the family Filoviridae currently consists of five species. All species, with the exception of Reston ebolavirus, have been found in Africa and caused severe human diseases. Bats have been implicated as reservoirs for ebolavirus. Reston ebolavirus, discovered in the Philippines, is the only ebolavirus species identified in Asia to date. Whether this virus is prevalent in China is unknown.FindingsIn this study, we developed an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for ebolavirus using the recombinant nucleocapsid protein and performed sero-surveillance for the virus among Chinese bat populations. Our results revealed the presence of antibodies to ebolavirus in 32 of 843 bat sera samples and 10 of 16 were further confirmed by western blot analysis.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first report of any filovirus infection in China.
Highlights
The genus Ebolavirus of the family Filoviridae currently consists of five species
To our knowledge, this is the first report of any filovirus infection in China
Reston ebolavirus (RESTV) is the only known filovirus that does not cause severe disease in humans; it can be fatal in monkeys [3]
Summary
The genus Ebolavirus of the family Filoviridae currently consists of five species. All species, with the exception of Reston ebolavirus, have been found in Africa and caused severe human diseases. We have detected antibodies to the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus [8] and henipavirus [9] in bat sera in China. ELISA plates were coated with the recombinant Reston-NP at approximately 100 ng/well and bat sera were tested in triplicates at a dilution of 1:100, followed by detection with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated Protein A/G (Pierce) at 1:20,000.
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