The role of wild mammals in the maintenance of Rift Valley fever virus.

• Published in: Journal of Wildlife Diseases
• Main Authors: Olive, Marie-Marie, Goodman, Steven M, Reynes, Jean-Marc
• Other Authors: Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), Contrôle des maladies animales exotiques et émergentes (UMR CMAEE), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Émergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), Université de La Réunion (UR), Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, USA, Association Vahatra Antananarivo, Madagascar, Biologie des Infections Virales Émergentes - Biology of Emerging Viral Infections CIRI (UBIVE), Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pasteur Paris (IP), This review was supported by a grant from the Centre de recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Emergentes dans l'Océan Indien through the project entitled ''Rift Valley fever in the Indian Ocean Islands
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: MESH: Animals; Wild; MESH: Disease Reservoirs; MESH: Female; MESH: Humans; MESH: Male; MESH: Rift Valley Fever; MESH: Rift Valley fever virus; MESH: Species Specificity; MESH: Zoonoses; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://riip.hal.science/pasteur-00836148; https://riip.hal.science/pasteur-00836148/document; https://riip.hal.science/pasteur-00836148/file/22493102OliveJWildlDis2012_48_2_241-66.pdf; https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-48.2.241

International audience Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a zoonotic arbovirus affecting primarily domestic ruminants and humans. Numerous vector species are known or implicated in the transmission of RVFV. The role of mammals in the maintenance of RVFV, and the existence of a wild mammal reservoir in the epidemiologic cycle of RVFV, remain largely unknown. Our objective is to present a detailed review of studies undertaken on RVFV, often associated with wild mammals, with the aim of focusing future research on potential reservoirs of the virus. Natural and experimental infections related to RVFV in several mammalian orders, including Artiodactyla, Chiroptera, Rodentia, Primata (nonhuman), Perissodactyla, Carnivora, Proboscidea, Erinaceomorpha, and Lagomorpha, are reviewed; the first four orders have received the greatest attention. The possible role of wild ruminants, especially African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), is also discussed. Conflicting results have been published concerning rodents but, based on the literature, the likely candidate species include the African genera Arvicanthis and Micaelamys and the widely introduced roof rat (Rattus rattus). Members of the orders Chiroptera and Rodentia should receive greater attention associated with new research programs. For the other orders mentioned above, few data are available. We are unaware of any investigation concerning the orders Afrosoricida and Soricomorpha, which are represented in the geographic area of RVFV and can be abundant. As a first step to resolve the question of wild mammals as a reservoir of RVFV, serologic and virologic surveys should be promoted during epizootic periods to document infected wild animals and, in the case of positive results, extended to interepidemic periods to explore the role of wild animals as possible reservoirs.