High Seroprevalence of Enterovirus Infections in Apes and Old World Monkeys

To estimate population exposure of apes and Old World monkeys in Africa to enteroviruses (EVs), we conducted a seroepidemiologic study of serotype-specific neutralizing antibodies against 3 EV types. Detection of species A, B, and D EVs infecting wild chimpanzees demonstrates their potential widespread circulation in primates

Species Association of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) in Non-Human Apes; Evidence for Recombination between Gorilla and Chimpanzee Variants

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are widely distributed in humans, infecting approximately one third of the world's population. HBV variants have also been detected and genetically characterised from Old World apes; Gorilla gorilla (gorilla), Pan troglodytes (chimpanzee), Pongo pygmaeus (orang-utan), Nomascus nastusus and Hylobates pileatus (gibbons) and from the New World monkey, Lagothrix lagotricha (woolly monkey). To investigate species-specificity and potential for cross species transmission of HBV between sympatric species of apes (such as gorillas and chimpanzees in Central Africa) or between humans and chimpanzees or gorillas, variants of HBV infecting captive wild-born non-human primates were genetically characterised. 9 of 62 chimpanzees (11.3%) and two from 11 gorillas (18%) were HBV-infected (15% combined frequency), while other Old world monkey species were negative. Complete genome sequences were obtained from six of the infected chimpanzee and both gorillas; those from P. t .ellioti grouped with previously characterised variants from this subspecies. However, variants recovered from P. t. troglodytes HBV variants also grouped within this clade, indicative of transmission between sub-species, forming a paraphyletic clade. The two gorilla viruses were phylogenetically distinct from chimpanzee and human variants although one showed evidence for a recombination event with a P.t.e.-derived HBV variant in the partial X and core gene region. Both of these observations provide evidence for circulation of HBV between different species and sub-species of non-human primates, a conclusion that differs from the hypothesis if of strict host specificity of HBV genotypes

Grouping Scan analysis.

<p>Sequence fragments of 250 bases incrementing by 100 bases with 100 bootstrap replicates, were used to compare and analyse (a) <i>P.t.troglodytes/P.t.ellioti</i> recombinant FJ98098.1 (b) <i>P.t.ellioti/P.t.troglodytes</i> recombinant FJ98099.1 (c) <i>P.t.schweinfurthii</i> isolate A498266; (d) <i>P.t.troglodytes</i> AM117396 (e) <i>P.t.troglodytes</i> recombinant AB046525 (f) study recombinant <i>Gorilla gorilla</i> HBV sequence (ECO50003); to sequence groups from <i>Gorilla gorilla</i> (red), <i>Pan troglodytes ellioti</i> (blue), <i>Pan troglodytes troglodytes</i> (green), <i>Pan troglodytes verus</i> (yellow), <i>Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii</i> (purple) and human genotype HBV/C (light blue) with respect to A498266. Values >0.5 indicate clustering within the indicated group.</p

Specimen isolation data.

<p>Specimen isolation data.</p

Tree Order Scan of HBV sequences.

<p><b>Figure 2(a)</b>. TreeOrder Scan of HBV sequences, indicating positions of individual sequences (y axis) in Phylogenetic trees generated from sequential 250-base sequence fragments, incrementing by 50 bases. Changes in sequence order as a result of changes in phylogeny at the 70% bootstrap level are shown. Sequences are colour coded by genotype and host species, as indicated by the labels in left and right margin: genotype A, purple; B, light blue; C, wine; D, emerald; E, royal blue; F, orange; G, pale green; H, navy; Gorilla, blue (Gor); Chimpanzee, green (Pan); and Woolly monkey (WM-out-group on line 1), red. For comparison the Tree Order Scan has been aligned with scale genome of HBV (top panel). Recombinant sequences are highlighted as by dashed lines; black gorilla/<i>P.t.e</i> ECO50003LIP3, green FJ798099 <i>P.t.e/P.t.t</i>, pink FJ798098 <i>P.t.e/P.t.t</i>, orange AB046525 <i>P.t.t</i> and purple AF498266 <i>P.t.s </i><b>2(b).</b> Tree Order Scan of HBV sequences, indicating positions of individual sequences (y axis) in phylogenetic trees generated from sequential 250-base sequence fragments, incrementing by 50 bases. Changes in sequence order as a result of changes in phylogeny at the 70% bootstrap level are shown. Sequences are colour coded by host species and sub-species of chimpanzee, as indicated by the labels in left and right margin: <i>Gorilla gorilla</i>, blue (Gor); <i>Pan troglodytes troglodytes</i>, yellow (<i>Ptt</i>); <i>Pan troglodytes ellioti</i>, green (<i>Pte</i>); <i>Pan troglodytes verus</i>, purple (<i>Ptv</i>); <i>Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii</i>, violet (<i>Pts</i>); and <i>Hylobates pileatus</i> (<i>Hyl</i>) (out-group-line 1-GII), red. For comparison the Tree Order Scan has been aligned with scale genome of HBV (top panel). Recombinant sequences are highlighted as by dashed lines; black gorilla/<i>P.t.e</i> ECO50003LIP3, green FJ798099 <i>P.t.e/P.t.t</i>, brown FJ798098 <i>P.t.e/P.t.t</i>, orange AB046525 <i>P.t.t</i> and blue AF498266 <i>P.t.s.</i></p