Overview of Bat and Wildlife Coronavirus Surveillance in Africa: A Framework for Global Investigations

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had devastating health and socio-economic impacts. Human activities, especially at the wildlife interphase, are at the core of forces driving the emergence of new viral agents. Global surveillance activities have identified bats as the nat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Viruses Vol. 13; no. 5; p. 936
Main Authors: Geldenhuys, Marike, Mortlock, Marinda, Epstein, Jonathan H., Pawęska, Janusz T., Weyer, Jacqueline, Markotter, Wanda
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basel MDPI AG 18.05.2021
MDPI
Subjects:
Africa
Animals
bat
Bats
biosurveillance
Chiroptera
Coronaviridae
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 infection
Disease transmission
Domestic animals
Domestication
ecosystems
emerging
Epidemics
Feces
Genomes
Health surveillance
humans
interphase
Livestock
Mammals
Middle East respiratory syndrome
monitoring
Orthocoronavirinae
pandemic
Pandemics
Phylogenetics
Respiratory diseases
Review
Species diversity
surveillance
Taxonomy
Wildlife
Zoonoses
Africa
ISSN:1999-4915, 1999-4915
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had devastating health and socio-economic impacts. Human activities, especially at the wildlife interphase, are at the core of forces driving the emergence of new viral agents. Global surveillance activities have identified bats as the natural hosts of diverse coronaviruses, with other domestic and wildlife animal species possibly acting as intermediate or spillover hosts. The African continent is confronted by several factors that challenge prevention and response to novel disease emergences, such as high species diversity, inadequate health systems, and drastic social and ecosystem changes. We reviewed published animal coronavirus surveillance studies conducted in Africa, specifically summarizing surveillance approaches, species numbers tested, and findings. Far more surveillance has been initiated among bat populations than other wildlife and domestic animals, with nearly 26,000 bat individuals tested. Though coronaviruses have been identified from approximately 7% of the total bats tested, surveillance among other animals identified coronaviruses in less than 1%. In addition to a large undescribed diversity, sequences related to four of the seven human coronaviruses have been reported from African bats. The review highlights research gaps and the disparity in surveillance efforts between different animal groups (particularly potential spillover hosts) and concludes with proposed strategies for improved future biosurveillance.
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ISSN:1999-4915
1999-4915
DOI:10.3390/v13050936