Highly diverse Morbillivirus-related paramyxoviruses in the wild fauna of southwestern Indian Ocean islands: evidence of exchange between introduced and endemic small mammals.

• Published in: Journal of Virology
• Main Authors: Wilkinson, David A, Mélade, Julien, Dietrich, Muriel, Ramasindrazana, Beza, Soarimalala, Voahangy, Lagadec, Erwan, Le Minter, Gildas, Tortosa, Pablo, Heraud, Jean-Michel, Lamballerie, Xavier, De, Goodman, Steven M., Dellagi, Koussay, Pascalis, Hervé
• Other Authors: Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Émergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), Université de La Réunion (UR), Association Vahatra Antananarivo, Madagascar, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD Réunion ), Unité de Virologie Antananarivo, Madagascar (IPM), Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), Emergence des Pathologies Virales (EPV), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille (APHM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, USA, This work was supported by funding from CRVOI, ERDF/French Government/Regional Council of La Réunion, FEDER POCT (2009–2013) “Pathogènes associés à la Faune Sauvage Océan Indien” 31189, and the European Regional Development Funds FEDER-POCT; Réunion, ParamyxOI project. D. A. Wilkinson, M. Dietrich, and B. Ramasindrazana's postdoctoral fellowships were funded by “RUN-Emerge: European project funded by European Commission under FP7 program.” J. Mélade's doctoral stipend was financed by the Conseil Regionale de La Réunion. B. Ramasindrazana received support from the “Fonds de Coopération régionale, Prefecture de La Réunion” and from the RUN Emerge project.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: MESH: Animals; Wild; MESH: Sequence Homology; MESH: Cluster Analysis; MESH: Genetic Variation; MESH: Indian Ocean Islands; MESH: Molecular Sequence Data; MESH: Paramyxoviridae; MESH: Phylogeny; MESH: RNA; Viral; MESH: Sequence Analysis; DNA; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01274563; https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01211-14

International audience The Paramyxoviridae form an increasingly diverse viral family, infecting a wide variety of different hosts and have been, in recent years, linked to disease emergence in many different animal populations and in man. Bats and rodents have been identified as major animal populations capable of harboring paramyxoviruses, and host shifting between these animals is likely to be important driving factor in the underlying evolutionary processes that eventually lead to disease emergence. Here, we have studied paramyxovirus circulation within populations of endemic and introduced wild small mammals of the southwestern Indian Ocean region and belonging to four taxonomic orders: Rodentia, Afrosoricida, Soricomorpha and Chiroptera. We report elevated infection levels, as well as widespread paramyxovirus dispersal and frequent host exchange of a newly emerging genus of the Paramyxoviridae, currently referred to as the Unclassified Morbilli-Related Viruses (UMRVs). In contrast with other genera of the Paramyxoviridae, where bats have been shown to be key host species, we show that rodents (and in particular Rattus rattus) are significant spreaders of UMRVs. We predict that the ecological particularities of the southwestern Indian Ocean, where small mammal species often live in densely packed, multi-species communities, in combination with the increasing invasion of R. rattus and perturbations of endemic animal communities by active anthropological development will have a major influence on the dynamics of UMRV infection. IMPORTANCE:Identification of the infectious agents that circulate within wild animal reservoirs is essential for several reasons: i) Infectious disease outbreaks often originate from wild fauna; ii) Anthropological expansion increases the risk of contact between human and animal populations and hence of disease emergence; iii) Evaluation of pathogen reservoirs helps elaborating preventive measures to limit the risk of disease emergence. Many paramyxoviruses for which bats and rodents ...