| arenaviruses. | the arenaviridae family contains 22 recognized virus species, each of them strongly associated with a rodent species (except tacaribe virus which is associated with a species of bat), suggesting an ancient co-evolutionary process. although the concept of co-evolution between rodents and arenaviruses is now largely accepted, little has been uncovered in terms of dating the phenomenon and the mechanisms of evolution, including speciation and pathogenicity. these questions are targeted in the prese ... | 2007 | 17848068 |
| host and viral traits predict zoonotic spillover from mammals. | the majority of human emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, with viruses that originate in wild mammals of particular concern (for example, hiv, ebola and sars). understanding patterns of viral diversity in wildlife and determinants of successful cross-species transmission, or spillover, are therefore key goals for pandemic surveillance programs. however, few analytical tools exist to identify which host species are likely to harbour the next human virus, or which viruses can cross species ... | 2017 | 28636590 |
| lassa serology in natural populations of rodents and horizontal transmission. | lassa virus causes hemorrhagic fever in west africa. previously, we demonstrated by pcr screening that only the multimammate mouse, mastomys natalensis, hosts lassa virus in guinea. in the present study, we used the same specimen collection from 17 villages in coastal, upper, and forest guinea to investigate the lassa virus serology in the rodent population. the aim was to determine the dynamics of antibody development in m. natalensis and to detect potential spillover infections in other rodent ... | 2014 | 25229705 |
| new hosts of the lassa virus. | lassa virus (lasv) causes a deadly haemorrhagic fever in humans, killing several thousand people in west africa annually. for 40 years, the natal multimammate rat, mastomys natalensis, has been assumed to be the sole host of lasv. we found evidence that lasv is also hosted by other rodent species: the african wood mouse hylomyscus pamfi in nigeria, and the guinea multimammate mouse mastomys erythroleucus in both nigeria and guinea. virus strains from these animals were isolated in the bsl-4 labo ... | 2016 | 27140942 |
| rodent host cell/lassa virus interactions: evolution and expression of α-dystroglycan, large-1 and large-2 genes, with special emphasis on the mastomys genus. | arenaviruses are usually rodent-borne viruses that constitute a major threat for human health. among them, lassa fever virus (lfv) occurs in western africa where it infects hundreds of thousands of people annually. according to the most recent surveys, lfv is hosted by one of the multimammate rats, mastomys natalensis, but has never been detected in its sibling and sometimes sympatric species mastomys erythroleucus. this pattern suggests that intrinsic, i.e. genetic properties underlie such a dr ... | 2010 | 20674789 |