Wüstenschiff

In Uganda ist ein Team der Weltgesundheitsorganisation auf der Jagd nach Fledermäusen. Millionen der Tiere hausen dort in einer Höhle - und stehen im Verdacht, in ihren Körpern dem tödlichen Marburg-Virus Unterschlupf zu gewähren. Erst kürzlich befiel es Menschen ...

Forscherteam jagt den Marburg-Erreger
20.08.2007 - Spiegel

Gruß
Birgitt

Flughunde als Reservoir für Marburg-Virus
22.08.2007

Franceville/Gabun – Der Nilflughund (Rousettus aegyptiacus), der zu den Fledertieren gehört, ist offenbar das natürliche Reservoir für das Marburg-Virus, einem der tödlichsten Krankheitserreger überhaupt. Dies berichtet ein internationales Forscherteam in PLoS ONE (2007; 2: e764).

Zusammen mit dem Ebola-Virus gehört das Marburg-Virus zu den Erregern eines hämorrhagischen Fiebers, das in bis zu 90 Prozent der Fälle tödlich endet. Die hohe Letalität behindert die Ausbreitung der Epidemien, da viele Patienten sterben, bevor sie die Viren weiter geben können. Da bisher nur wenige sporadische Epidemien unter Menschen und anderen Primaten beobachtet wurden und die Viren außerhalb ihrer Wirtsorganismus nur begrenzt überlebensfähig sind, stellt sich die Frage nach dem natürlichen Reservoir: Tiere, die mit dem Virus infiziert sind, aber nicht erkranken.

Vor zwei Jahren entdeckte Eric Leroy vom Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF) in Gabun, dass Nilflughunde (Rousettus aegyptiacus) das natürliche Reservoir der Ebola-Viren sind (Nature 2005: 438: 575–576). Es lag deshalb nahe, bei diesen Höhlenbewohnern auch nach Marburg-Viren zu suchen.

Die Forscher analysierten das Blut von 1.142 Fledertieren, neben Rousettus aegyptiacus auch das von neun anderen Spezies. Sie wurden fündig und konnten bei vier Tieren, alle aus der Unterart Rousettus aegyptiacus, Virusgene nachweisen. Diese Tiere waren also vermutlich aktiv infiziert. 29 Tiere hatten IgG-Antikörper, was zeigt, dass sie Kontakt zu den Viren gehabt hatten.

Die Nilflughunde waren in den Jahren 2005 und 2006 in Höhlen in Gabun und in der benachbarten Republik Kongo gefangen worden. Im Gabun hat es in der Vergangenheit zwei Ausbrüche des Marburg-Virus gegeben, wie auch alle bekannten Ausbrüche sich in Regionen ereigneten, in denen Rousettus aegyptiacus endemisch ist (auch die Laborarbeiter in Marburg und Jugoslawien infizierten sich 1967 an Tieren aus dieser Region). Die Tatsache, dass Minenarbeiter in einigen Ausbrüchen die ersten Opfer waren, passt zur Lebensweise der in Höhlen lebenden Tiere. © rme/aerzteblatt.de

Quelle: Aerzteblatt

Gruß
Birgitt

MARBURG. Es sieht anfangs nur wie eine lästige, aber harmlose Grippe aus: Etwas Fieber und Kopfschmerzen, Husten und vielleicht Durchfall. Doch nach wenigen Tagen zeigt der Erreger seine tödliche Kraft: Die Patienten bekommen heftige Schmerzen, gerade in Brust und Lunge, und bluten. Vor allem im Inneren, oft auch aus allen Körperöffnungen. Dann folgt der Tod, in etwa 25 bis 90 Prozent der Fälle. Dieser Tage ist auch eine Niederländerin, die das Virus erstmals von Afrika nach Europa einschleppte, an der gefährlichen Krankheit gestorben. Und diese ist ausgerechnet nach dem beschaulichen Marburg in Mittelhessen benannt. Vor vier Jahrzehnten wurde das Virus hier identifiziert ...

Lautloser Killer: Dem Marburg-Virus auf der Spur
Mittelhessische Universitätsstadt erinnert sich nach Tod einer Niederländerin an Epidemie 1967 - Impfstoff in Sicht?
14.07.2008 - Giessener Anzeige

Gegen das Marburg-Virus, dem jetzt eine niederländische Touristin zum Opfer gefallen ist, hoffen Forscher schon bald einen Impfstoff zu haben. "Nach jahrzehntelanger Forschung haben wir Ergebnisse vorzuweisen", sagte Hans-Dieter Klenk, langjähriger Direktor des Marburger Instituts für Virologie. "Mittlerweile kann ich sagen, dass Tierexperimente sehr, sehr erfolgreich waren." Möglicherweise werde es "schon in naher Zukunft" einen Impfstoff für Menschen gegen Marburg-Viren geben, sagte der Virologe ...

Marburg-Virus: Hoffnung auf Impfstoff
14.07.2008 - vitanet

Gruß
Birgitt

MARBURGVIRUS, EGYPTIAN FRUIT BAT - UGANDA
*****************************************
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[1]
Date: Fri 31 Jul 2009
Source: Reuters News [edited]
<http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCr ... SN31432759>


Marburg virus found in fruit bats in Uganda
-------------------------------------------
Thousands of bats in a cave in Uganda are
infected with a marburgvirus, a cousin of
ebolavirus [i.e., viruses classified in
the Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus genera of the
family _Filoviridae_], researchers said on Friday
[31 Jul 2009], strengthening the theory the
mammals are natural carriers of the deadly
viruses. A study by Pierre Rollin and colleagues
at the Special Pathogens Branch at the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
[and at other laboratories in South Africa,
Switzerland and Uganda -- see part 2 below] found
live virus in 5 percent of the bats tested in the
cave, where miners were infected with a marburgvirus in 2007.

"Our finding of active virus infection in
approximately 5 percent of _R. aegyptiacus_ bats
and their population exceeding 100 000 in Kitaka
cave in Uganda suggests there are likely over
5000 marburgvirus-infected bats in this cave,
which is only one of many such cave populations
throughout Africa," they wrote in their report in
the Public Library of Science journal PLoS
Pathogens [see part 2 below]. "Clearly, these
bats could serve as a major source of virus with
potential to initiate human epidemics, and the
implications for public health are striking."

Researchers have long suspected bats were the
natural reservoirs of ebolaviruses and
marburgviruses -- both lethal viruses in the same
family [the family _Filoviridae_]. Ebolaviruses
can kill between 50 percent and 90 percent of
patients, while Marburg is a bit less deadly. A
natural reservoir is an animal that carries and
transmits an infection without becoming ill.

Rollin's team sampled the blood of bats in the
giant cave, where one miner died from Marburg in
2007. The virus samples from the sick miners and
from the bats were close genetic matches, they
reported. "These data indicate common Egyptian
fruit bats can represent a major natural
reservoir and source of marburgviruses with
potential for spillover into humans," they wrote.

[Byline: Paul Simao]

--
Communicated by:
Powell Gammill
<pgammill@cox.net>

*******
[2]
Date: 31 Jul 2009
Source: PLoS Pathogens [edited]
<http://www.plospathogens.org/article/in ... at.1000536>


[The publication referred to in the preceding Reuters report is the following:
Towner JS, Amman BR, Sealy TK, Carroll SAR, Comer
JA, et al. (2009) PLoS Pathog 5(7): e1000536.
doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000536. Full article available at the above URL]

Isolation of Genetically Diverse Marburg Viruses from Egyptian Fruit Bats
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT: In July and September 2007, miners
working in Kitaka Cave, Uganda, were diagnosed
with Marburg hemorrhagic fever. The likely source
of infection in the cave was Egyptian fruit bats
(_Rousettus aegyptiacus_) based on detection of
marburgvirus RNA in 31/611 (5.1 percent) bats,
virus-specific antibody in bat sera, and
isolation of genetically diverse virus from bat
tissues. The virus isolates were collected 9
months apart, demonstrating long-term virus
circulation. The bat colony was estimated to be
more than 100 000 animals using mark and
re-capture methods, predicting the presence of
more than 5000 virus-infected bats. The
genetically diverse virus genome sequences from
bats and miners closely matched. These data
indicate common Egyptian fruit bats can represent
a major natural reservoir and source of
marburgvirus with potential for spillover into humans.

AUTHORS SUMMARY: [Members of the genus
Marburgvirus] are similar to their close
relatives in the Ebolavirus genus, can cause
large outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever (HF) in
rural Africa with case fatalities approaching 90
percent. For decades, a long-standing enigma has
been the identity of the natural reservoir of
this deadly virus. In this report, we identify
the cave-dwelling Egyptian fruit bat (_Rousettus
aegyptiacus_) as a natural host of marburgviruses
based on multiple lines of evidence which
include, for the 1st time ever, the isolation of
virus directly from wild-caught and apparently
healthy bats. The species _R. aegyptiacus_ is
common throughout Africa with distribution into
the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Our
finding of active virus infection in
approximately 5 percent of _R. aegyptiacus_ bats
and their population exceeding 100 000 in Kitaka
cave in Uganda suggests there are likely more
than 5000 marburgvirus­infected bats in this
cave, which is only one of many such cave
populations throughout Africa. Clearly, these
bats could serve as a major source of virus with
potential to initiate human epidemics, and the
implications for public health are striking.
Additionally, we found highly divergent (21
percent) genome sequences among viruses
circulating in these bat populations, a level of
diversity that would result from a long-term
association with a suitable reservoir host of large population size.

[The authors contend that although the source of
filoviruses in nature has not been definitively
identified, the cumulative evidence suggests that
bats are involved. The infected monkeys consigned
from Uganda to Europe in 1967, which resulted in
the 1st recognized outbreaks of Marburg
hemorrhagic fever, were caught on the shores of
Lake Victoria and on islands where fruit bats are
prevalent. In 1996, it was shown that
experimentally infected fruit bats were capable
of supporting replication of ebolavirus without developing overt disease.

Significantly, diverse genetic lineages of
marburgvirus were detected in Egyptian fruit
bats, _Rousettus aegyptiacus_, and 2 species of
insectivorous bat in the mine, and the outbreak
ceased when the mine flooded, but no live virus
was isolated from bats. In 2002, ebolavirus RNA
was detected in forest-dwelling species of fruit
bat in Gabon during an investigation which
followed outbreaks of EHF and in 2005 nucleic
acid of Marburg virus was detected in _R.
aegyptiacus_ bats in the same country in the
absence of a corresponding outbreak of disease].
On both occasions it again proved impossible to
isolate live virus. In July 2007, a small
outbreak of Marburg haemorrhagic fever occurred
in workers mining lead and gold in Kitaka Cave
near Ibanda village in western Uganda. Large
numbers of _R. aegyptiacus_and insectivorous
_Hipposideros_ species bats were present in this
mine. Ecological investigations were conducted in
August 2007 and May 2008, and the findings are presented here.

It can be concluded that there was no evidence of
vertical transmission of infection in _R.
aegyptiacus_, but that juveniles are exposed to
virus at a stage of their development possibly
determined by factors such as waning maternal
immunity or seasonal occurrence of infection in
external hosts such as arthropods. Limited tests
on arthropod parasites of bats in the present
study were negative for evidence of Marburg virus
infection, and the same was true for larger
numbers of parasitic and cave-associated
arthropods tested in the investigations in the
DRC in 1999. It seems more likely that there is
horizontal transmission of infection among
susceptible bats, as has been proposed for Hendra
virus and Nipah virus. However, no Marburg virus
RNA was detected in oral swabs taken from bats,
including those with virus RNA-positive liver and
spleen samples, suggesting that transmission via
masticated fruit spats as suggested for Nipah
virus, is an unlikely route for marburgviruses.
Transmission via bat urine or feces would be
another possible mechanism. It is notable that
ebolavirus was found to be shed in the feces of
experimentally infected fruit bats for up to 3
weeks, but limited immunohistochemical analyses
of formalin-fixed kidneys of our RT-PCR positive
bats have thus far been negative, tentatively
suggesting that transmission via urine may be
less likely than through feces. However, it would
be premature to rule out transmission through
urine, feces or saliva given the limited number
of bats tested to date, and the lesser
sensitivity of immunohistochemical methods
relative to RT-PCR. The determination of virus
transmission mechanisms will be best addressed in
the future through experimental infection of R. aegyptiacus bats.

In CONCLUDING REMARKS the authors state that the
generation and perpetuation of such diverse
genetic lineages of virus, with greater or equal
to 21 percent nucleotide differences, imply the
need for a long association of the virus with its
reservoir host, plus the need for a large host
population with constant recruitment of naive
individuals. The estimated population of 112 000
_R. aegyptiacus_ bats in Kitaka mine could
probably produce up to 100 000 offspring with 2
breeding seasons a year. Moreover the species is
widely distributed in Africa, with many large
colonies in proximity in East Africa alone,
including the Kitum Cave complex on Mount Elgon,
and numerous caves in western Uganda. It has been
observed in South Africa that large proportions
of the bats within _R. aegyptiacus_ colonies
migrate greater or equal to 300 miles to other
colonies on a seasonal basis. Hence the potential
pool of vertebrate hosts for marburgviruses may
extend to tens of millions of bats across a large
geographic range. Although diverse Marburg virus
lineages were found to co-circulate at single
geographic locations in Kitaka mine in Uganda and
Goroumbwa Mine in the DRC, it is noteworthy that
very closely related lineages have also been
found at widely separated geographic locations,
in some instances over 2000 km apart. For
example, marburgvirus sequences found in bats in
Gabon are closely related to isolates from
Zimbabwe, Uganda and DRC. Isolates of the Ravn
lineage have been found in Kenya, DRC and Uganda.
In fact, an isolation-by-distance analysis of the
data presented here (Mantel test) found no
correlation between genetic and geographic
distances. The geospatial separation of the
closely related marburgvirus lineages is most
consistent with mobility of their natural host, a
dynamic easily accomplished by the enormous meta-
population of _R. aegyptiacus_ present in Africa.

Longitudinal studies of naturally infected _R.
aegyptiacus_ colonies would provide valuable
insights into the dynamics of immune status, as
well as the shedding, transmission and
persistence of marburgviruses in bat populations,
and help to determine if the proportions of
infected individuals relative to age are periodic
or stochastic. The studies should be supplemented
by experimental infections to observe the
dynamics of infection within individual bats.
Given the detection of infectious ebolaviruses in
privileged sites, such as testes, up to 3 months
after onset of symptoms in human infections,
careful examination of multiple tissues from infected bats is also warranted.

Images of the Egyptian fruit bat (_Rousettus aegyptiacus_) can be viewed at:
<http://www.arkive.org/egyptian-fruit-ba ... size=large>
- Mod.CP]

A map showing the location of Uganda in Africa is
available at:
<http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/uganda.html> - CopyEd.EJP]

EBOLA AND MARBURG HEMORRHAGIC FEVER, EGYPTIAN FRUIT BAT - WEST AFRICA
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ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Fri 2 Oct 2009
Source: Bloomberg.com [edited]
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... DY59ymDHII>


Virus Hunters Find Ebola, Marburg Source in Fruit Bat
-----------------------------------------------------
Scientists are closing in on the source of Ebola and Marburg
[hemorrhagic fevers], 2 of the world's most-lethal infectious
diseases. After a 5-year search in the jungles of Africa, an
international team of virus hunters has identified a fruit bat that
may be the natural host for both hemorrhage-causing diseases. Also,
these viruses are more widespread than previously thought, according
to their research, which will be published via an open-access BioMed
Central journal.

The study, based on blood tests on more than 2000 bats in Gabon and
the Republic of Congo, will help scientists solve a mystery that has
confounded them for more than 30 years: which species harbor Ebola
and Marburg [viruses] without getting sick. The answer may explain
how the viruses persist in the environment and point to ways humans
can avoid a disease that causes fatal bleeding and organ failure in
at least half of cases.

"Very eminent scientists have been searching for decades to find the
source," said John Mackenzie, a Melbourne-based virologist who
assists the World Health Organization in its response to outbreaks.
"Until you know what it is, you can't piece together the epidemiology
or begin to think about managing the risks to both humans and wildlife."

Marburg hemorrhagic fever was recognized in 1967, when outbreaks
occurred in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and in
the Serbian [Yugoslavian] capital, Belgrade. Cases were traced to
African green monkeys imported for research and polio vaccine
production. Then, 9 years later, a closely related virus was found to
have sparked a deadly outbreak near the Ebola River in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire.

Disease trackers have tested everything from snakes to guinea pigs in
the search for an animal reservoir and have been repeatedly led back
to caves, mines and bats. A 2005 study published in the journal
Nature found evidence of symptomless ebolavirus infection in 3
species of fruit bat in West Africa, indicating that these animals
may be the ones silently harboring the virus. In March [2009],
scientists reported the 1st evidence directly connecting a human
Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreak to the putative fruit bat reservoir.

The study reported this week is the 1st to show that ebolavirus and
marburgvirus are circulating simultaneously in bat populations in one
country. While several human Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreaks have
occurred in Gabon, no cases of Marburg hemorrhagic fever have been
reported there, the authors said. The presence of marburgvirus in the
West African nation represents a "potential and previously
unrecognized threat to humans," they said.

"These findings provide much stronger evidence for a reservoir in
bats," Xavier Pourrut, a virologist at Gabon's International Center
for Medical Research in Franceville and the study's lead author, said
in a telephone interview. "The next step is to understand how the
viruses circulate in bat populations over time." Pourrut and
collaborators from the Special Pathogens Branch of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and France's Institute for
Development Research looked for evidence of previous ebolavirus and
marburgvirus infection in the blood samples of 2147 bats from at
least 9 species. Tests were conducted from 2003 to 2008 in 3 regions
of Gabon and in the Ebola epidemic region of north Congo.

Of all the bats sampled in significant numbers, only specimens of the
cave-roosting Egyptian fruit bat, or _Rousettus aegyptiacus_, were
found to harbor antibodies against both ebolavirus and marburgvirus,
the authors wrote, "suggesting that this species may be a natural
host of both viruses." The Egyptian rousette, with a doglike face and
ears, is found along the Nile River in Egypt, across Sub-Saharan
Africa, eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. While some groups
may occasionally roost outside in trees, the bats of this species
prefer to inhabit caves, mines and tombs, and feast on fruit trees at
night. These preferences give it a stronger link with the circulation
of ebolavirus and marburgvirus more frequently found in rain forests,
said Pierre Formenty, leader of the emerging and dangerous pathogens
team at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.

Formenty was among 29 authors of a study published in July [2009]
that showed Marburg virus could be isolated from seemingly healthy
Egyptian fruit bats caught in Uganda's Kitaka Cave, where miners
infected with the virus in 2007 had worked. While some outbreaks in
humans have been directly linked to contact with bats, more evidence
exists to link cases with infected apes, chimpanzees and other
primates that are often consumed in Central Africa. These animals, in
turn, probably got the virus by eating fruit contaminated with saliva
or other bodily fluids from bats, according to Pourrut.

Once a human is infected, there is no cure for ebolavirus or
marburgvirus infection. After an incubation period of about a week,
victims rapidly develop high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, respiratory
disorders and hemorrhaging. Death can ensue within a few days. About
a quarter of Marburg hemorrhagic fever cases are fatal, whereas case
fatality rates range from 50 to 80 percent with Ebola hemorrhagic
fever in Africa.

Ebolavirus may circulate naturally within at least one other bat
species and spread to members of the Egyptian rousette via contact
with infected saliva left on fruit remnants, Formenty said in an
interview. Also, no link with the Egyptian fruit bat was found with
at least 3 Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreaks, he said. "We've got a
whole lot of clues on the crossword puzzle and we're just filling the
blanks now," said Bob Swanepoel, a virologist at South Africa's
National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, who 1st
sought to unravel the history of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in the
mid-1970s. Scientists will complete the task within a decade, he said.

[Byline: Jason Gale]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall.

[This report describes evidence linking for the 1st time both the
Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fevers with viruses present in fruit
bats, and one bat in particular -- the Egyptian fruit bat, _Rousettus
aegyptiacus_. (An image of an Egyptian fruit bat can be viewed via
the above URL for the news agency article.) The evidence for virus
infection of these bats is based on serological analysis and it is
unclear from this report whether infectious virus has been isolate
from these animals. Publication of the data is awaited with interest.
It is suggested that direct transmission of ebolavirus and
marburgvirus to humans from these bats may be rare and that humans
are more likely to be exposed to infection through contact with
infected primates, hunted as a source of food.
- Mod.CP]

[The interactive HealthMap/ProMED map for Africa is available at:
<http://healthmap.org/r/0035>
- CopyEd.EJP]

MARBURGVIRUSES - UGANDA: BATS
************************************
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http://www.isid.org

Date: Fri 12 Sep 2014
Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases journal [summ., edited]
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20/10/14-0696_article


Ref: Amman BR, Nyakarahuka L, McElroy AK, et al: Marburgvirus resurgence in Kitaka Mine bat population after extermination attempts, Uganda [letter] Emerg Infect Dis [Internet]. 2014; 20(10)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV), collectively called marburgviruses, cause Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF) in humans. In July 2007, 4 cases of MHF (1 fatal) occurred in miners at Kitaka Mine in [Kamwenge and Ibanda districts,] southern Uganda. Later, MHF occurred in 2 tourists who visited Python Cave, about 50 km [31 mi] from Kitaka Mine. One of the tourists was from the United States (December 2007) and one was from the Netherlands (July 2008); one case was fatal (1,2,3). The cave and the mine each contained 40 000-100 000 _Rousettus aegyptiacus_ bats (Egyptian fruit bats).

In October 2012, the most recent known marburgvirus outbreak was detected in Ibanda, a town in southwest Uganda. Ibanda is about 20 km [12 mi] from the Kitaka Mine and is the urban center that serves smaller communities in the Kitaka area. This MHF outbreak was the largest in Ugandan history: 15 laboratory-confirmed cases occurred. In November 2012, an ecologic investigation of the greater Ibanda/Kitaka area was initiated. The investigation included interviews with local authorities to locate all known _R. aegyptiacus_ colonies in the area. Although minor colonies of small insectivorous bats were found, the only identifiable colony of _R. aegyptiacus_ bats was found inside the re-opened Kitaka Mine, albeit at much reduced size, perhaps 1-5 per cent of that found before depopulation efforts.

Of the 400 _R. aegyptiacus_ bats collected, 53 (13.3 per cent) were positive for marburgvirus RNA by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (32/233 [13.7 per cent] adults and 21/167 [12.6 per cent] juveniles; marburgvirus was isolated from tissue samples from 9 of the 400 bats. The overall level of active infection was significantly higher than that found in Kitaka Mine during 2007-2008 (5.1 per cent) (Fisher exact test, p less than 0.001) and in other studies in Uganda (Python Cave [2.5 per cent]) and Gabon (4.8 per cent). The reason for the increase is not clear, but it may be related to the effects of the extermination and subsequent repopulation. Increases in disease prevalence in wildlife populations after culling are not unprecedented. We speculate that after the depopulation attempt, a pool of susceptible bats became established over time and was subjected to multiple marburgvirus introductions, as evidenced by the genetic diversity of viruses isolated from the bats. A pool of susceptible bats would have led to higher levels of active infection within the colony, thereby increasing the potential for virus spillover into the human population.

Phylogenetic analysis of viral RNA genome fragment sequences in this study showed high marburgvirus genetic diversity, including the presence of RAVVs and MARVs. Sequences for isolates from 3 bats were nearly identical to those of the MARV isolates obtained from patients in the 2012 Ibanda outbreak, suggesting that bats from Kitaka Mine were a likely source of the virus.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from HealthMap Alerts
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Marburg hemorrhagic fever was first recognized in 1967, when outbreaks occurred in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and in the Serbian [then Yugoslavian] capital, Belgrade. Cases were traced to African green monkeys imported for research and polio vaccine production.

In a subsequent study of bats in Uganda, of all the bats sampled in significant numbers, only specimens of the cave-roosting Egyptian fruit bat, or _Rousettus aegyptiacus_, were found to harbor antibodies against both ebolavirus and marburgvirus (see ProMED-mail archive no 20091006.3469).

A study published in July 2009 showed that Marburg virus could be isolated from seemingly healthy Egyptian fruit bats caught in Uganda's Kitaka Cave, where miners infected with the virus in 2007 had worked. There was a substantial number of cases in 2012, with no further reports coming in to ProMED since then, until now. Marburg virus (family _Filoviridae_) causes sporadic outbreaks of severe hemorrhagic disease in sub-Saharan Africa.

Maps of Uganda can be seen at http://healthmap.org/promed/p/24890 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Districts_of_Uganda. Ibanda and Kamwenge districts in the western region of Uganda are no 19 and no 31 respectively on the map.]