Simon J. Anthony, Jonathan H. Epstein, Kris A. Murray, Isamara Navarrete‐Macias et al.
UNLABELLED: The majority of emerging zoonoses originate in wildlife, and many are caused by viruses. However, there are no rigorous estimates of total viral diversity (here termed "virodiversity") for any wildlife species, despite the utility of this to future surveillance and control of emerging zo...
Jonathan H. Epstein, Simon J. Anthony, Ariful Islam, A. Marm Kilpatrick et al.
Significance Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic virus and World Health Organization (WHO) priority pathogen that causes near-annual outbreaks in Bangladesh and India with >75% mortality. This work advances our understanding of transmission of NiV in its natural bat reservoir by analyzing data from a...
Nusrat Homaira, Md. Abdur Rahman, Jahangir Hossain, Jonathan H. Epstein et al.
In February 2007 an outbreak of Nipah virus (NiV) encephalitis in Thakurgaon District of northwest Bangladesh affected seven people, three of whom died. All subsequent cases developed illness 7-14 days after close physical contact with the index case while he was ill. Cases were more likely than con...
Kevin J. Olival, Ariful Islam, Meng Yu, Simon J. Anthony et al.
To determine geographic range for Ebola virus, we tested 276 bats in Bangladesh. Five (3.5%) bats were positive for antibodies against Ebola Zaire and Reston viruses; no virus was detected by PCR. These bats might be a reservoir for Ebola or Ebola-like viruses, and extend the range of filoviruses to...
Emily S. Gurley, Sonia T. Hegde, Kamal Hossain, Hossain M. S. Sazzad et al.
Preventing emergence of new zoonotic viruses depends on understanding determinants for human risk. Nipah virus (NiV) is a lethal zoonotic pathogen that has spilled over from bats into human populations, with limited person-to-person transmission. We examined ecologic and human behavioral drivers of ...
Sukanta Chowdhury, Salah Uddin Khan, Gary Crameri, Jonathan H. Epstein et al.
BACKGROUND: Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging disease that causes severe encephalitis and respiratory illness in humans. Pigs were identified as an intermediate host for NiV transmission in Malaysia. In Bangladesh, NiV has caused recognized human outbreaks since 2001 and three outbreak investigations...
Micah B. Hahn, Emily S. Gurley, Jonathan H. Epstein, Mohammad S. Islam et al.
Nipah virus has caused recurring outbreaks in central and northwest Bangladesh (the "Nipah Belt"). Little is known about roosting behavior of the fruit bat reservoir, Pteropus giganteus, or factors driving spillover. We compared human population density and ecological characteristics of case village...
Simon J. Anthony, Ariful Islam, Christine K. Johnson, Isamara Navarrete‐Macias et al.
It is currently unclear whether changes in viral communities will ever be predictable. Here we investigate whether viral communities in wildlife are inherently structured (inferring predictability) by looking at whether communities are assembled through deterministic (often predictable) or stochasti...
Peter Daszak, Raina K. Plowright, Jonathan H. Epstein, Juliet R.C. Pulliam et al.
This chapter reviews recent research on the emergence of the Nipah and Hendra viruses, two lethal zoonotic paramyxoviruses that first emerged from fruit bat reservoirs in Malaysia in 1999 and Australia in 1994, respectively. Large-scale environmental changes such as deforestation, intensification of...
Jonathan H. Epstein, Phenix‐Lan Quan, Thomas Briese, Craig Street et al.
Bats are reservoirs for a wide range of zoonotic agents including lyssa-, henipah-, SARS-like corona-, Marburg-, Ebola-, and astroviruses. In an effort to survey for the presence of other infectious agents, known and unknown, we screened sera from 16 Pteropus giganteus bats from Faridpur, Bangladesh...
Micah B. Hahn, Jonathan H. Epstein, Emily S. Gurley, Mohammad S. Islam et al.
Summary Flying foxes Pteropus spp. play a key role in forest regeneration as seed dispersers and are also the reservoir of many viruses, including N ipah virus in B angladesh. Little is known about their habitat requirements, particularly in S outh A sia. Identifying Pteropus habitat preferences cou...
Najmul Haider, M. S. Rahman, Salah Uddin Khan, Andrea Mikolon et al.
The genus pestivirus of the family flaviviridae consists of four recognized species: bovine viral diarrhoea virus 1 (BVDV-1), bovine viral diarrhoea virus 2 (BVDV-2), classical swine fever virus and border disease virus. A new putative pestivirus species tentatively named as either 'HoBi-like pestiv...
Danielle E. Anderson, Ariful Islam, Gary Crameri, Shawn Todd et al.
Despite molecular and serologic evidence of Nipah virus in bats from various locations, attempts to isolate live virus have been largely unsuccessful. We report isolation and full-genome characterization of 10 Nipah virus isolates from Pteropus medius bats sampled in Bangladesh during 2013 and 2014.
Md Z. Rahman, Md. Mazharul Islam, M. Belal Hossain, Md Mahfuzur Rahman et al.
Background: Nipah virus (NiV) infection, often fatal in humans, is primarily transmitted in Bangladesh through the consumption of date palm sap contaminated by Pteropus bats. Person-to-person transmission is also common and increases the concern of large outbreaks. This study aimed to characterize t...
Kevin J. Olival, Alice Latinne, Ariful Islam, Jonathan H. Epstein et al.
The structure and connectivity of wildlife host populations may influence zoonotic disease dynamics, evolution and therefore spillover risk to people. Fruit bats in the genus Pteropus, or flying foxes, are the primary natural reservoir for henipaviruses-a group of emerging paramyxoviruses that threa...