Targeted genomic sequencing with probe capture for discovery and surveillance of coronaviruses in bats.

Public health emergencies like SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 have prioritized surveillance of zoonotic coronaviruses, resulting in extensive genomic characterization of coronavirus diversity in bats. Sequencing viral genomes directly from animal specimens remains a laboratory challenge, however, and most bat coronaviruses have been characterized solely by PCR amplification of small regions from the best-conserved gene. This has resulted in limited phylogenetic resolution and left viral genetic factors relevant to threat assessment undescribed.

Risk perceptions and behaviors of actors in the wild animal value chain in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which contains the greatest area of the second largest rainforest on Earth, people have long been connected to the forest for subsistence and livelihood from wild animals and bushmeat. This qualitative study sought to characterize the bushmeat movement-from hunting wild animals to market sale-and the roles of participants in the animal value chain, as well as their beliefs surrounding zoonotic disease and occupational risk. Actors in in eight bushmeat markets and two ports in Kinshasa, DRC completed semi-structured interviews between 2016 and 2018 in which they expressed belief in transmission of illness from domestic animals to humans, but not from wild animals to humans.

Enterovirus Sequence Data Obtained from Primate Samples in Central Africa Suggest a High Prevalence of Enteroviruses.

Enteroviruses infect humans and animals and can cause disease, and some may be transmitted across species barriers. We tested Central African wildlife and found RNA in primates (17) and rodents (2). Some sequences were very similar, while others were dissimilar to known species, highlighting the underexplored enterovirus diversity in wildlife.

Molecular analysis of the 2012 Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak.

Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) is one of four ebolaviruses known to cause disease in humans. Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreaks occurred in 2007-2008 in Bundibugyo District, Uganda, and in 2012 in Isiro, Province Orientale, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The 2012 BVD outbreak resulted in 38 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection, 13 of whom died.

Coronavirus surveillance in wildlife from two Congo basin countries detects RNA of multiple species circulating in bats and rodents.

Coronaviruses play an important role as pathogens of humans and animals, and the emergence of epidemics like SARS, MERS and COVID-19 is closely linked to zoonotic transmission events primarily from wild animals. Bats have been found to be an important source of coronaviruses with some of them having the potential to infect humans, with other animals serving as intermediate or alternate hosts or reservoirs. Host diversity may be an important contributor to viral diversity and thus the potential for zoonotic events.