NBC 2012: S New virus in Africa looks like rabies, acts like Ebola 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.” 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. The genetic sequences went to Dr. Charles Chiu, of the University of California, San Francisco. “We were astounded that this patient had sequences in his blood from a completely unknown and unidentified virus,” Chiu said. They weren’t expecting that. “Congo is very much known for having Ebola and Marburg outbreaks. Yet about 20 percent of the time we have hemorrhagic fever outbreaks that are completely negative, which means unknown causes and they are not Ebola.” The sequencing puts this new virus on its own branch of the bad virus family tree -- somewhat related to Ebola and the virus that causes Lassa fever, another horrific killer, and most closely related to the rhabdoviruses. This family usually only infects animals with one notable exception -- rabies. But rabies is not known to cause hemorrhaging. It’s plenty horrible on its own, of course, killing virtually all patients if they aren’t vaccinated soon after infection. 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. 2024 Bazitama Seroprevalence of Bas-Congo virus in Mangala, Democratic Republic of the Congo: a population-based cross-sectional study Background Bas-Congo virus (BASV), an emerging tibrovirus, was associated with an outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever in Mangala, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2009. In 2012, neutralising antibodies to BASV were detected in the lone survivor and one of his close contacts. However, subsequent serological and molecular surveys were unsuccessful as neither BASV antibodies nor its RNA were detected. In this study, we determined the seroprevalence of BASV infection in Mangala 13 years after the initial outbreak. Methods We conducted a population-based serological survey from Jan 17 to Jan 23, 2022. Consenting individuals at least 5 years of age, living in Mangala for at least 4 weeks, and who had no contraindication to venepuncture were enrolled. Participants were interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. We supplemented the collected serum samples with 284 archived samples from Matadi and Kinshasa. All samples were tested for antibodies to BASV and other tibroviruses using a pseudovirus-based neutralisation test. Findings Among the 267 individuals from Mangala, the prevalence of BASV antibodies was 55% (95% CI 49–61; n=147). BASV seropositivity odds significantly increased with age (5·2 [95% CI 2·1–12·9] to 83·9 [20·8–337·7] times higher in participants aged 20 years or older than participants aged 5–19 years). Some occupational categories (eg, farmer or public servant) were associated with seropositivity. Only nine (6%) of 160 samples from Matadi and one (<1%) of 124 samples from Kinshasa had neutralising antibodies to BASV. Moreover, we also detected neutralising antibodies to other tibroviruses—Ekpoma virus 1, Ekpoma virus 2, and Mundri virus—in 84 (31%), 251 (94%), and 219 (82%) of 267 Mangala samples; 14 (9%), 62 (39%), and 120 (75%) of 160 Matadi samples; and six (5%), five (4%), and 33 (27%) of 124 Kinshasa samples, respectively.

2024 Grard Chapter 2 - Bas-Congo Virus: A Novel Rhabdovirus Associated with Acute Hemorrhagic Fever In 2009, an outbreak of three cases of acute hemorrhagic fever occurred in the Bas-Congo province of Democratic Republic of the Congo. The clinical presentation included abrupt onset of disease, fever, mucosal and gastrointestinal hemorrhages, and death within 3 days for the first two cases. The single serum sample was collected from the lone survivor, the nurse who cared for them. Since laboratory tests for all known viral hemorrhagic fever viruses in Central Africa were negative, extracted RNA from the serum sample were retrospectively analyzed by next-generation sequencing, leading to the discovery and whole-genome assembly of a new rhabdovirus, named Bas-Congo virus (BASV). BASV is highly divergent from other known rhabdoviruses, and is phylogenetically related to the dipteran-mammal-associated rhabdovirus supergroup. Specific neutralizing antibodies were detected in the convalescent serum of the survivor and an asymptomatic close contact. Although the source of infection and mode of transmission for BASV have not yet been established, phylogenetic and epidemiologic data suggest potential arthropod-borne transmission with nosocomial spread between humans.