KNUSTSpace >
Research Articles >
College of Agric and Natural Resources >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/15294
|
Title: | Bats Worldwide Carry Hepatitis E Virus-Related Viruses That Form a Putative Novel Genus within the Family Hepeviridae |
Authors: | Adam, Alexander Leroy, Eric M Oppong, Samuel Kingsley Drostena, Christian et...al |
Issue Date: | Jun-2012 |
Publisher: | Journal of Virology |
Citation: | Journal of Virology |
Abstract: | Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the most common causes of acute hepatitis in tropical and temperate climates. Tropical genotypes 1 and 2 are associated with food-borne and waterborne transmission. Zoonotic reservoirs (mainly pigs, wild boar, and
deer) are considered for genotypes 3 and 4, which exist in temperate climates. In view of the association of several zoonotic viruses with bats, we analyzed 3,869 bat specimens from 85 different species and from five continents for hepevirus RNA. HEVs
were detected in African, Central American, and European bats, forming a novel phylogenetic clade in the family Hepeviridae.
Bat hepeviruses were highly diversified and comparable to human HEV in sequence variation. No evidence for the transmission
of bat hepeviruses to humans was found in over 90,000 human blood donations and individual patient sera. Full-genome analysis of one representative virus confirmed formal classification within the family Hepeviridae. Sequence- and distance-based taxonomic evaluations suggested that bat hepeviruses constitute a distinct genus within the family Hepeviridae and that at least three
other genera comprising human, rodent, and avian hepeviruses can be designated. This may imply that hepeviruses invaded
mammalian hosts nonrecently and underwent speciation according to their host restrictions. Human HEV-related viruses in
farmed and peridomestic animals might represent secondary acquisitions of human viruses, rather than animal precursors causally involved in the evolution of human HEV. |
Description: | This article has been published in the Journal of Virology and is also available at DOI:10.1128/JVI.00800-12 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/15294 |
Appears in Collections: | College of Agric and Natural Resources
|
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
|