Zoonotic Potential of Simian Arteriviruses
- Adam L. Baileya,b,
- Michael Laucka,b,
- Samuel D. Sibleyb,c,
- Thomas C. Friedrichb,c,
- Jens H. Kuhnd,
- Nelson B. Freimere,
- Anna J. Jasinskae,
- Jane E. Phillips-Conroyf,
- Clifford J. Jollyg,
- Preston A. Marxh,i,
- Cristian Apetreij,k,
- Jeffrey Rogersb,l,
- Tony L. Goldbergb,c and
- David H. O'Connora,b
- aDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- bWisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- cDepartment of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- dIntegrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland, USA
- eCenter for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- fDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, and Department of Anthropology, Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
- gDepartment of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
- hTulane National Primate Research Center, Covington, Louisiana, USA
- iDepartment of Tropical Medicine, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- jCenter for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- kDepartment of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- lHuman Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
- T. C. Pierson, Editor
ABSTRACT
Wild nonhuman primates are immediate sources and long-term reservoirs of human pathogens. However, ethical and technical challenges have hampered the identification of novel blood-borne pathogens in these animals. We recently examined RNA viruses in plasma from wild African monkeys and discovered several novel, highly divergent viruses belonging to the family Arteriviridae. Close relatives of these viruses, including simian hemorrhagic fever virus, have caused sporadic outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fever in captive macaque monkeys since the 1960s. However, arterivirus infection in wild nonhuman primates had not been described prior to 2011. The arteriviruses recently identified in wild monkeys have high sequence and host species diversity, maintain high viremia, and are prevalent in affected populations. Taken together, these features suggest that the simian arteriviruses may be “preemergent” zoonotic pathogens. If not, this would imply that biological characteristics of RNA viruses thought to facilitate zoonotic transmission may not, by themselves, be sufficient for such transmission to occur.
FOOTNOTES
- Accepted manuscript posted online 11 November 2015.
- Address correspondence to David H. O'Connor, doconnor{at}primate.wisc.edu.
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Citation Bailey AL, Lauck M, Sibley SD, Friedrich TC, Kuhn JH, Freimer NB, Jasinska AJ, Phillips-Conroy JE, Jolly CJ, Marx PA, Apetrei C, Rogers J, Goldberg TL, O'Connor DH. 2016. Zoonotic potential of simian arteriviruses. J Virol 90:630–635. doi:10.1128/JVI.01433-15.
- Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
