TY - JOUR AU - De Nys, Helene AU - Kingebeni, Placide Mbala AU - Keita, Alpha AU - Butel, Christelle AU - Thaurignac, Guillaume AU - Villabona-Arenas, Christian-Julian AU - Lemarcis, Thomas AU - Geraerts, Mare AU - Vidal, Nicole AU - Esteban, Amandine AU - Bourgarel, Mathieu AU - Roger, François AU - Leendertz, Fabian AU - Diallo, Ramadan AU - Ndimbo-Kumugo, Simon-Pierre AU - Nsio-Mbeta, Justus AU - Tagg, Nikki AU - Koivogui, Lamine AU - Toure, Abdoulaye AU - Delaporte, Eric AU - Ahuka-Mundeke, Steve AU - Tamfum, Jean-Jacques Muyembe AU - Mpoudi-Ngole, Eitel AU - Ayouba, Ahidjo AU - Peeters, Martine T1 - Survey of Ebola Viruses in Frugivorous and Insectivorous Bats in Guinea, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2015–2017 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2018 VL - 24 IS - 12 SP - 2228 SN - 1080-6059 AB - To clarify the role of bats in the ecology of Ebola viruses, we assessed the prevalence of Ebola virus antibodies in a large-scale sample of bats collected during 2015–2017 from countries in Africa that have had previous Ebola outbreaks (Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo) or are at high risk for outbreaks (Cameroon). We analyzed 4,022 blood samples of bats from >12 frugivorous and 27 insectivorous species; 2–37 (0.05%–0.92%) bats were seropositive for Zaire and 0–30 (0%–0.75%) bats for Sudan Ebola viruses. We observed Ebola virus antibodies in 1 insectivorous bat genus and 6 frugivorous bat species. Certain bat species widespread across Africa had serologic evidence of Zaire and Sudan Ebola viruses. No viral RNA was detected in the subset of samples tested (n = 665). Ongoing surveillance of bats and other potential animal reservoirs are required to predict and prepare for future outbreaks. KW - Ebola KW - bats KW - Africa KW - Guinea KW - Cameroon KW - the Democratic Republic of the Congo KW - frugivorous bats KW - insectivorous bats KW - Ebola virus KW - Zaire strain KW - Sudan strain KW - viruses KW - zoonoses KW - serology KW - seroprevalence KW - survey KW - ecology KW - Ebola virus infection KW - EVD KW - Ebola virus disease KW - cross-reactivity KW - Luminex KW - cutoff KW - Mops sp. KW - Eidolon helvum KW - Epomophorus gambianus KW - Hypsignathus monstrosus KW - Lissonycteris angolensis KW - Micropteropus pusillus KW - Rousettus aegyptiacus DO - 10.3201/eid2412.180740 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/24/12/18-0740_article ER - End of Reference