The Dynamics of Filovirus Infection in bats in Ghana

加纳蝙蝠中丝状病毒感染的动态

基本信息

批准号：
MR/P025226/1
负责人：
James Wood
金额：
$ 76.9万
依托单位：
University of Cambridge
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2017 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FP025226%2F1
关键词：
Dynamics Filovirus Infection bats Ghana

项目摘要

This research aims to understand the enigma of how highly virulent viruses that cause lethal outbreaks in humans can persist in bat populations, without causing obvious death and disease in these animals. While some of the reasons likely relate to immune systems targeting the specific viruses, other reasons will relate to the ecology and lifestyles of the bats that host these viruses. When these viruses, which include Ebola and Marburg, transmit into the human population, they cause significant death and disease and occasional major epidemics, as in the recent West African Ebola crisis. If we understood how the viruses persist in their wildlife reservoir, we could identify mechanisms for spillover and develop better means of reducing the likelihood of outbreaks occurring in humans. The programme will characterise the actual Ebola- and Marburg-like viruses (termed filoviruses) that infect bats in Ghana, West Africa, where preliminary testing has provided evidence of infection with both viruses. Using data from the characterisation, we will then develop specific tests for the viruses in Ghana, rather than using tests based on viruses found in other parts of Africa. This phase of the work will also characterise variability in Ebola and Marburg, and potentially other filoviruses, in their bat hosts, thereby providing important information for strategies to control them, such as how these viruses are transmitted and the effectiveness of medical interventions. The specific assays developed will include tests to detect viral genomes, which will be able to pick-up low levels of specific viruses as well as blood tests for immune responses to detect prior infection; an important feature is that the tests will be developed against the range of filoviruses actually infecting bats in Ghana. Using these tests and working with our long-standing veterinary collaborator in the Ghana wildlife services, we will screen infected bat roosts in Ghana over the 2 year time period of this grant to obtain a picture of how viruses transmit amongst and between different species of bats in Ghana. This will allow us to distinguish whether, for example, Ebola persists at a low level, persistently infecting roosts, or whether the virus depends on spreading waves of infection involving many different interconnected bat roosts. This basic knowledge does not currently exist for filoviruses in bats. We will also use our new tests to investigate the presence of past infection of people in Ghana, in particular in those with livelihoods that bring them in close contact with bats (e.g. hunting). The work will be delivered through careful collaboration between UK-based and Ghanaian scientists, with a strong capacity building focus. Cambridge University has a major capacity building Cambridge-Africa programme that includes the University of Ghana as a specific partner. Dr Osbourne Quaye, the Ghanaian virologist leading the programme there, has benefitted from a visiting fellowship as part of that programme. This proposed programme will fully resource his laboratory with molecular and serological equipment and also allow for specific training in the specialist assays that will be developed with Dr Wright in Westminster. The field studies in Ghana will be led by Dr Richard Suu-Ire, who recently completed his PhD on bat virus infections in the University of Ghana, co-supervised by Professors Wood and Cunningham. We will also establish South-South collaborative links between our Ghanaian collaborators and the University of Makeni Infectious Disease Laboratory (UniMak IDRL), Sierra Leone. This laboratory was established during and following the Ebola epidemic in West Africa with funding from Wellcome and the support of the Cambridge-Africa program to provide capacity in the area of genomics. The equipment within the UniMak IDRL was used during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa to provide real-time sequencing capability.

这项研究旨在了解引起人类致命爆发的高度毒性病毒的谜团可以在蝙蝠种群中持续存在，而不会导致这些动物的明显死亡和疾病。尽管某些原因可能与针对特定病毒的免疫系统有关，但其他原因将与托管这些病毒的蝙蝠的生态和生活方式有关。当这些病毒（包括埃博拉病毒和马堡）传播到人口时，它们会引起大量的死亡和疾病，偶尔出现主要流行病，就像最近的西非埃博拉病毒危机一样。如果我们了解该病毒如何在其野生动植物储层中持续存在，我们可以确定溢出物的机制，并发展出更好的方法来减少人类发生爆发的可能性。该计划将表征实际的埃博拉病毒和马堡样病毒（称为丝状病毒），这些病毒感染了西非加纳的蝙蝠，初步测试为这两种病毒提供了感染的证据。然后，我们将使用表征数据来开发有关加纳病毒的特定测试，而不是使用基于非洲其他地区的病毒测试。这项工作的这一阶段还将表征埃博拉病毒和马堡的变异性，以及可能在其蝙蝠宿主中的其他丝状病毒，从而为控制它们的策略提供重要信息，例如这些病毒的传播方式以及医疗干预的有效性。开发的特定测定方法将包括检测病毒基因组的测试，该测试将能够拾取低水平的特定病毒以及血液测试以进行免疫反应以检测先前的感染；一个重要的特征是，将针对加纳实际感染蝙蝠的filevirus范围开发测试。使用这些测试并与我们在加纳野生动物服务中的长期兽医合作者合作，我们将在该赠款的两年时间内筛选加纳受感染的蝙蝠栖息地，以获取病毒在不同物种之间如何在蝙蝠之间传播的图片在加纳。这将使我们能够区分例如，埃博拉病毒是否持续存在，持续感染栖息地，或者病毒是否取决于传播感染波的传播波，涉及许多不同的相互联系的蝙蝠栖息地。目前，蝙蝠中的丝病毒目前不存在这种基本知识。我们还将使用我们的新测试来调查加纳过去感染的存在，尤其是在那些生计的人与蝙蝠接触的人（例如狩猎）。这项工作将通过英国与加纳科学家之间的仔细合作来进行，并以强大的能力建设重点进行。剑桥大学有一个主要的能力建设剑桥 - 非洲计划，其中包括加纳大学作为特定合作伙伴。加纳病毒学家奥斯本·奎伊（Osbourne Quaye）博士领导该计划，他从访问奖学金中受益，作为该计划的一部分。该提议的计划将用分子和血清学设备充分利用他的实验室，并允许在威斯敏斯特与赖特博士开发的专业测定法中进行特定的培训。加纳的现场研究将由理查德·苏伊尔（Richard Suu-ire）博士领导，他最近在加纳大学完成了蝙蝠病毒感染博士学位，由伍德教授和坎宁安教授共同监管。我们还将在加纳合作者与马克尼大学传染病实验室（UNIMAK IDRL）塞拉利昂之间建立南南的合作联系。该实验室是在西非的埃博拉病毒流行期间和之后建立的，并获得了惠康的资金以及剑桥 - 非洲计划的支持，以提供基因组学领域的能力。在西非的埃博拉病毒流行期间，使用了Unimak IDRL内的设备，以提供实时测序能力。