Bas-Congo virus, a novel rhabdovirus, causes at least 3 human cases (2 fatal) with H2H spread in DRC in 2009

[Ronan Kelly]

New virus in Africa looks like rabies, acts like Ebola

Frederick A. Murphy / CDC handout via EPA file
A new virus that appears similar to rabies, but has the symptoms and lethality of Ebola, shown here, has been dubbed the Bas-Congo virus. It killed two teenagers in the Congo in 2009.

By Maggie Fox, NBC News
A virus that killed two teenagers in Congo in 2009 is a completely new type, related to rabies but causing the bleeding and rapid death that makes Ebola infection so terrifying, scientists reported on Thursday. They?re searching for the source of the virus, which may be transmitted by insects or bats.
The new virus is being named Bas-Congo virus, for the area where it was found. Researchers are finding more and more of these new viruses, in part because new tests make it possible, but also in the hope of better understanding them so they can prevent pandemics of deadly disease.
The virus infected a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl in the same village in Congo in 2009. They didn?t stand a chance, says Joseph Fair of Metabiota, a company that investigates pathogens. Fair is in the Democratic Republic of Congo now, under contract to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help battle an ongoing Ebola outbreak.


?They expired within three days,? Fair said in a telephone interview. ?It was a very rapid killer.?
...
http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/201...africa-looks-like-rabies-acts-like-ebola?lite

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Bas-Congo virus

Re: Bas-Congo virus

Disease Detectives Catch Deadly African Virus Just As It Emerges

By RICHARD KNOX
New viruses are popping up all over these days ? Heartland virus in Missouri last month, a new virus in the same family as SARS in Saudi Arabia this month. And now, a never-before-seen hemorrhagic fever virus in central Africa.

It's called Bas-Congo virus after the province where it was found just west of Kinshasa, the teeming capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The discovery was announced today in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

So far only three people in the remote village of Mangala are known to have contracted Bas-Congo hemorrhagic fever, two of whom died. One was a health care worker who cared for the other two villagers, which means it can apparently be transmitted from person to person, although no one knows how easily.
...
http://www.boisestatepublicradio.or...es-catch-deadly-african-virus-just-it-emerges

'Bas-Congo': Genetic sleuthing uncovers deadly new virus in Africa September 27, 2012 in Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Enlarge This is an electron microscope image of a typical rhabdovirus. Credit: UCSF An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before.

Described this week in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, the new microbe has been named Bas-Congo virus (BASV) after the province in the southwest corner of the Congo where the three people lived. It was discovered by an international research consortium that included the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and University of California, Davis (UCD), Global Viral, the Centre International de Recherches M?dicales de Franceville in Gabon, the Institut National de Recherche Biom?dicale, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Metabiota and others.

...

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-bas-congo-genetic-sleuthing-uncovers-deadly.html#jCp

 

[alert]

Re: Bas-Congo virus

Re: Bas-Congo virus

The article continues:

A few days later a male nurse who cared for the two teenagers developed the same symptoms and survived. Samples from the lucky nurse have been tested and it turned out a completely new virus had infected him, Fair and other researchers report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS pathogens.

[snip]

A nurse who took care of the first infected nurse had antibodies to the new virus. It doesn’t look like the teenagers infected one another, says Fair, but they probably infected the first nurse, who probably infected the second. Tests of other villagers have found no more evidence of the virus, however, which is good news.

[snip]

So it appears this virus has caused a cluster of 4 human cases with 2 deaths, representing at least H2H2H spread.

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Bas-Congo virus

Re: Bas-Congo virus

A Novel Rhabdovirus Associated with Acute Hemorrhagic Fever in Central Africa

Citation: Grard G, Fair JN, Lee D, Slikas E, Steffen I, et al. (2012) A Novel Rhabdovirus Associated with Acute Hemorrhagic Fever in Central Africa. PLoS Pathog 8(9): e1002924. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002924

Abstract
Deep sequencing was used to discover a novel rhabdovirus (Bas-Congo virus, or BASV) associated with a 2009 outbreak of 3 human cases of acute hemorrhagic fever in Mangala village, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Africa. The cases, presenting over a 3-week period, were characterized by abrupt disease onset, high fever, mucosal hemorrhage, and, in two patients, death within 3 days. BASV was detected in an acute serum sample from the lone survivor at a concentration of 1.09?106 RNA copies/mL, and 98.2% of the genome was subsequently de novo assembled from ~140 million sequence reads. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that BASV is highly divergent and shares less than 34% amino acid identity with any other rhabdovirus. High convalescent neutralizing antibody titers of >1:1000 were detected in the survivor and an asymptomatic nurse directly caring for him, both of whom were health care workers, suggesting the potential for human-to-human transmission of BASV. The natural animal reservoir host or arthropod vector and precise mode of transmission for the virus remain unclear. BASV is an emerging human pathogen associated with acute hemorrhagic fever in Africa.

Author Summary
We used deep sequencing, a method for generating millions of DNA sequence reads from clinical samples, to discover a novel rhabdovirus (Bas-Congo virus, or BASV) associated with a 2009 outbreak of 3 human cases of acute hemorrhagic fever in Mangala village, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Africa. The cases, presenting over a 3-week period, were characterized by abrupt disease onset, high fever, bloody vomiting and diarrhea, and, in two patients, death within 3 days. BASV was present in the blood of the lone survivor at a concentration of over a million copies per milliliter. The genome of BASV, assembled from over 140 million sequence reads, reveals that it is very different from any other rhabdovirus. The lone survivor and a nurse caring for him (with no symptoms), both health care workers, were found to have high levels of antibodies to BASV, indicating that they both had been infected by the virus. Although the source of the virus remains unclear, our study findings suggest that BASV may be spread by human-to-human contact and is an emerging pathogen associated with acute hemorrhagic fever in Africa.

...

full paper at; http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002924

 

[alert]

Re: Bas-Congo virus, a novel rhabdovirus, causes at least 3 human cases (2 fatal) with H2H spread in DRC in 2009

Published Date: 2012-09-28 11:04:37
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Bas-Congo virus - Congo DR: (BC), viral hemorrhagic fever, 2009, RFI
Archive Number: 20120928.1314067

BAS-CONGO VIRUS - DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC CONGO, VIRAL HEMORRHAGIC FEVER, 2009, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
***************************************************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org

[all the above articles, snipped]

[On 26 Jun 2009, there was a ProMED-mail post on an outbreak of apparent viral hemorrhagic fever in Mangala, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The newswire at that time mentioned the following: "5 people out of almost a dozen ill individuals have died within a few days from an as yet unidentified disease in the village of Mangala, located some 30 kilometers [19 mi] from the city of Boma, the capital of the province of Bas-Congo [Kongo Central] in the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"The chief medical officer of the Boma health district, Dr Lawrence Kiphunda Nlandu, who informed the press, reported that 5 cases, of which only one has survived so far, a man of 35 years, have been detected in the rural health zone of Boma Bungu, considered the epicenter of the epidemic, while the other 5 cases were recorded in the Boma health area. He mentioned that 2 men, a woman, and a young man of 14 years of age are currently hospitalized in a local medical facility and a child of 4 years who succumbed to the disease [referring to the 2nd cluster mentioned above].

"Dr Kiphunda did not provide the incubation period of the disease, however he mentioned that it is characterized by vomiting of blood [hematemesis] accompanied by bloody diarrhea [melena or hematochezia] and blood flow from the nostrils [epistaxis]." (see prior ProMED-mail post Undiagnosed fatalities - Congo DR: (BC), hem fever susp, RFI 20090626.2326 -- information at that time from a French language Xinhua newswire http://www.acap-cf.info/RDC-Une-mal...nnes-dans-la-province-du-Bas-Congo_a2364.html).

At that time, this moderator mentioned: "The differential diagnosis for a hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would include more 'common' etiologies such as leptospirosis, yellow fever, malaria, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever, among others.

"The more 'exotic' viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, Lassa & Marburg, while they not been reported from the Bas Congo region of the DRC, have been reported from elsewhere in the DRC, and from neighboring Angola." (see prior post for more complete discussion on the epidemiology of the VHFs in the region)."

No further information was received at that time [2009] to identify the etiology of the outbreak, and the report remained in the ProMED-mail archives as an as yet unresolved outbreak of a hemorrhagic fever.

The above reports put "closure" to the open investigation, 3 years following the event.

Of note, 3 days following the report of the outbreak in Bas-Congo (29 Jun 2009) , there was another report of an as yet undiagnosed outbreak of a hemorrhagic fever in Equateur Province of the DRC (see ProMED-mail Hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR: (Equateur), RFI 20090629.2357). That outbreak was described as: "Eight cases of haemorrhagic fever have been reported since May [2009] in the Djolu health area. According to the provincial medical inspector of Equateur, 4 deaths have already been reported among persons under treatment, as reported by radio okapi.net.

"Patients have presented with the same signs: fever with bleeding from the nose (epistaxis) and anus (hematochezia) and vomiting with blood (hematemesis). But according to Dr Augustine Makaya, provincial medical inspector, the viral etiology of this disease is not yet known. Blood samples taken last Wednesday [?24 Jun 2009] on patients by a team from Medecins sans Frontieres [Doctors Without Borders] in Kisangani, were sent on the same day by plane to Kinshasa." (see prior ProMED-mail post Hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR: (Equateur), RFI 20090629.2357, with information from Radio Okapi via Relief Web http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/JBRN-7TDDM9?OpenDocument).

At that time, this moderator mentioned: "In addition to the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in 2008, Equateur Province has had outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in 2007 (along the Tshuapa river) and in Yamabuku in 1976 (the Ebola river goes through Equateur Province. The Yambuku outbreak was the 1st outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever identified, and at the time, Yambuku was situated in Equateur Province).

"Outbreaks of Marburg hemorrhagic fever have been identified in neighboring
Kasai Orientale Province as well." A search of the internet has not revealed an etiology for this 2nd hemorrhagic fever outbreak.

An obvious question at this time is whether those specimens sent to Kinshasa for processing have also [yielded] a new virus responsible for viral hemorrhagic fever? Or, perhaps the same virus as identified in Bas-Congo?

 

[Shiloh]

CIDRAP- Researchers find novel hemorrhagic fever virus in Africa

CIDRAP- Researchers find novel hemorrhagic fever virus in Africa

Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/bt/vhf/news/sep2812bascongo.html


Researchers find novel hemorrhagic fever virus in Africa

Lisa Schnirring * Staff Writer

Sep 28, 2012 (CIDRAP News) ? Researchers have identified a new virus that can cause hemorrhagic fever in humans, based on their investigation of an unusual outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2009 that sickened three people, killing two.

The analysis of a virus from the surviving patient?a nurse who cared for the two children who died?revealed some unusual features. Named Bas-Congo virus after the remote tropical rain forest area of the DRC where the outbreak occurred, it is a rhabdovirus closely related to the rabies virus, a family that until now hasn't been known to cause hemorrhagic fever that can quickly kill infected humans.

An international research team described the findings yesterday in Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens.

Though the outbreak bore some of the hallmarks of a hemorrhagic disease outbreak, including spread of the virus to a healthcare worker, the spread of the disease was limited and not accompanied by animal die-offs other unusual events.

The two children who died were from the same village, attended the same school, and lived in the same neighborhood. The first patient was a 15-year-old boy who started having hemorrhagic symptoms with watery diarrhea, but no fever or respiratory symptoms, on May 24. He died 2 days later.

The second patient was a 13-year-old girl who started having similar hemorrhagic symptoms on Jun 5 and was treated by a nurse for a possible malaria infection. Initially she seemed to improve but died 3 days after her symptoms first surfaced.

Patient three is a 32-year-old male health center nurse who treated the sick children. His hemorrhagic disease symptoms began on Jun 13, and a few days later he was transferred to a regional hospital in Boma. There his medical team obtained serum samples and gave him a transfusion, fluid resuscitation, and empiric antibiotic treatment.

Testing found that the virus in the nurse's serum sample was negative for all known to cause hemorrhagic fever in African countries. Genetic sequencing revealed a novel, highly divergent rhabdovirus, but researchers weren't able to culture the virus isolated from the patient's serum, according to the study. Serum samples weren't available for the two children.

Follow-up of patient contacts for 21 days revealed no other hemorrhagic infections.

To explore if the virus is infectious in humans, in early 2012 researchers conducted blood tests on the surviving patient along with five healthcare worker contacts. Not surprisingly, tests showed that the nurse who recovered had been exposed; however, they also found evidence of an asymptomatic infection had occurred in another nurse, suggesting along with the epidemiologic investigation limited human-to-human transmission.

Researchers didn't find the virus in other serum samples from unknown cases or outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever in the DRC from 2008 through 2010. A serum study of 50 random blood donors in Kasai-Orientale province in the central part of the DRC also didn't reveal any evidence of infection with the Bas-Congo virus.

Given the small size of the outbreak, researchers wrote that they doubted the source of the virus was waterborne or airborne, and they noted that there were no animal die-offs that would suggest a likely wild animal or livestock source. The observations suggest a possible arthropod source, such as biting midges.

More tests are under way in the region, including a seroprevalence survey in humans and investigations aimed at finding the source of the virus in arthropods or mammals.

Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) who were part of the study group said the virus could cause future outbreaks. It added that the team is working on new diagnostic tests to identify the disease quickly if it emerges again, according to a UCSF press release yesterday.

Grard G, Fair JN, Lee D, et al. A novel rhabdovirus associated with acute hemorrhagic fever in central Africa. PLoS Pathog 2012 Sep 27 [Full text]

See also:

Sep 27 UCSF press release

 

[tetano]

Deadly New Virus In Africa Uncovered By Genetic Sleuthing

Deadly New Virus In Africa Uncovered By Genetic Sleuthing

An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before.

Described in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, the new microbe has been named Bas-Congo virus (BASV) after the province in the southwest corner of the Congo where the three people lived.

It was discovered by an international research consortium that included the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and University of California, Davis (UCD), Global Viral, the Centre International de Recherches M?dicales de Franceville in Gabon, the Institut National de Recherche Biom?dicale, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Metabiota and others.

...


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/250836.php