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Article

Attempted Transmission of Marburg Virus by Bat-Associated Fleas Thaumapsylla breviceps breviceps (Ischnopsyllidae: Thaumapsyllinae) to the Egyptian Rousette Bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus)

1
Centre for Emerging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Sandringham 2131, South Africa
2
Centre for Viral Zoonoses, Department of Medical Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
3
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa
4
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA 02118, USA
5
CSIRO Health & Biosecurity, Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Viruses 2024, 16(8), 1197; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16081197
Submission received: 27 June 2024 / Revised: 22 July 2024 / Accepted: 23 July 2024 / Published: 25 July 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Viral Diseases)

Abstract

Egyptian rousette bats (ERBs) are implicated as reservoir hosts for Marburg virus (MARV), but natural mechanisms involved in maintenance of MARV in ERB populations remain undefined. A number of hematophagous ectoparasites, including fleas, parasitize bats. Subcutaneous (SC) inoculation of ERBs with MARV consistently results in viremia, suggesting that infectious MARV could be ingested by blood-sucking ectoparasites during feeding. In our study, MARV RNA was detected in fleas that took a blood meal during feeding on viremic bats on days 3, 7, and 11 after SC inoculation. Virus concentration in individual ectoparasites was consistent with detectable levels of viremia in the blood of infected host bats. There was neither seroconversion nor viremia in control bats kept in close contact with MARV-infected bats infested with fleas for up to 40 days post-exposure. In fleas inoculated intracoelomically, MARV was detected up to 14 days after intracoelomic (IC) inoculation, but the virus concentration was lower than that delivered in the inoculum. All bats that had been infested with inoculated, viremic fleas remained virologically and serologically negative up to 38 days after infestation. Of 493 fleas collected from a wild ERB colony in Matlapitsi Cave, South Africa, where the enzootic transmission of MARV occurs, all tested negative for MARV RNA. While our findings seem to demonstrate that bat fleas lack vectorial capacity to transmit MARV biologically, their role in mechanical transmission should not be discounted. Regular blood-feeds, intra- and interhost mobility, direct feeding on blood vessels resulting in venous damage, and roosting behaviour of ERBs provide a potential physical bridge for MARV dissemination in densely populated cave-dwelling bats by fleas. The virus transfer might take place through inoculation of skin, mucosal membranes, and wounds when contaminated fleas are squashed during auto- and allogrooming, eating, biting, or fighting.
Keywords: Marburg virus; bat fleas; Egyptian rousette bat; transmission; vectorial capacity Marburg virus; bat fleas; Egyptian rousette bat; transmission; vectorial capacity

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MDPI and ACS Style

Pawęska, J.T.; Storm, N.; Jansen van Vuren, P.; Markotter, W.; Kemp, A. Attempted Transmission of Marburg Virus by Bat-Associated Fleas Thaumapsylla breviceps breviceps (Ischnopsyllidae: Thaumapsyllinae) to the Egyptian Rousette Bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Viruses 2024, 16, 1197. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16081197

AMA Style

Pawęska JT, Storm N, Jansen van Vuren P, Markotter W, Kemp A. Attempted Transmission of Marburg Virus by Bat-Associated Fleas Thaumapsylla breviceps breviceps (Ischnopsyllidae: Thaumapsyllinae) to the Egyptian Rousette Bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Viruses. 2024; 16(8):1197. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16081197

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pawęska, Janusz T., Nadia Storm, Petrus Jansen van Vuren, Wanda Markotter, and Alan Kemp. 2024. "Attempted Transmission of Marburg Virus by Bat-Associated Fleas Thaumapsylla breviceps breviceps (Ischnopsyllidae: Thaumapsyllinae) to the Egyptian Rousette Bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus)" Viruses 16, no. 8: 1197. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16081197

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