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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Evolutionary history of rabies in Ghana
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Volume 5, No. 4, Article e1001, Year 2011
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Description
Rabies virus (RABV) is enzootic throughout Africa, with the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) being the principal vector. Dog rabies is estimated to cause 24,000 human deaths per year in Africa, however, this estimate is still considered to be conservative. Two sub-Saharan African RABV lineages have been detected in West Africa. Lineage 2 is present throughout West Africa, whereas Africa 1a dominates in northern and eastern Africa, but has been detected in Nigeria and Gabon, and Africa 1b was previously absent from West Africa. We confirmed the presence of RABV in a cohort of 76 brain samples obtained from rabid animals in Ghana collected over an eighteen-month period (2007-2009). Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences obtained confirmed all viruses to be RABV, belonging to lineages previously detected in sub-Saharan Africa. However, unlike earlier reported studies that suggested a single lineage (Africa 2) circulates in West Africa, we identified viruses belonging to the Africa 2 lineage and both Africa 1 (a and b) sub-lineages. Phylogeographic Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis of a 405 bp fragment of the RABV nucleoprotein gene from the 76 new sequences derived from Ghanaian animals suggest that within the Africa 2 lineage three clades co-circulate with their origins in other West African countries. Africa 1a is probably a western extension of a clade circulating in central Africa and the Africa 1b virus a probable recent introduction from eastern Africa. We also developed and tested a novel reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay for the detection of RABV in African laboratories. This RT-LAMP was shown to detect both Africa 1 and 2 viruses, including its adaptation to a lateral flow device format for product visualization. These data suggest that RABV epidemiology is more complex than previously thought in West Africa and that there have been repeated introductions of RABV into Ghana. This analysis highlights the potential problems of individual developing nations implementing rabies control programmes in the absence of a regional programme. © 2011 Hayman et al.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3071360/bin/pntd.0001001.s001.docx
Authors & Co-Authors
Hayman, David T.S.
United Kingdom, Addlestone
Animal and Plant Health Agency
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom, London
Zoological Society of London Institute of Zoology
Johnson, Nicholas
United Kingdom, Addlestone
Animal and Plant Health Agency
Horton, Daniel L.
United Kingdom, Addlestone
Animal and Plant Health Agency
Hedge, Jessica A.
United Kingdom, Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh
Wakeley, Philip R.
United Kingdom, Addlestone
Animal and Plant Health Agency
Banyard, Ashley C.
United Kingdom, Addlestone
Animal and Plant Health Agency
Zhang, Shoufeng
Ghana, Accra
Ministry of Food and Agriculture Ghana
Alhassan, Andy
China, Beijing
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Fooks, Anthony Richard
United Kingdom, Addlestone
Animal and Plant Health Agency
United Kingdom, Liverpool
University of Liverpool
Statistics
Citations: 60
Authors: 9
Affiliations: 7
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pntd.0001001
ISSN:
19352727
e-ISSN:
19352735
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Study Design
Cohort Study
Study Locations
Multi-countries
Gabon
Ghana
Nigeria