Genome Sequences of Five Arenaviruses from Pygmy Mice (Mus minutoides) in Sierra Leone.

The genome sequences of five strains of a mammarenavirus were assembled from metagenomic data from pygmy mice (Mus minutoides) captured in Sierra Leone. The nearest fully sequenced relatives of this virus, which was named Seli virus, are lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, Lunk virus, and Ryukyu virus.

Isolation of Angola-like Marburg virus from Egyptian rousette bats from West Africa.

Marburg virus (MARV) causes sporadic outbreaks of severe Marburg virus disease (MVD). Most MVD outbreaks originated in East Africa and field studies in East Africa, South Africa, Zambia, and Gabon identified the Egyptian rousette bat (ERB; Rousettus aegyptiacus) as a natural reservoir. However, the largest recorded MVD outbreak with the highest case-fatality ratio happened in 2005 in Angola, where direct spillover from bats was not  shown.