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Updated: Jun 23, 2025

Arbovirus Infections As Screening Tools for the Identification of Viral Immunomodulators and Host Antiviral Factors
Published on: September 13, 2018
Astroviruses in terrestrial Malagasy mammals
Victoria Carcauzon1, James P Herrera2,3, Kayla Kaufman2,4
1Université de La Réunion, Unité Mixte de Recherche Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT), CNRS 9192, INSERM 1187, IRD 249, Plateforme Technologique CYROI, Sainte Clotilde, La Réunion, France.
None:
Small terrestrial mammals are major hosts of infectious agents responsible for zoonotic diseases. Astroviruses (AstVs)-the cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis mainly affecting young children-have been detected in a wide array of mammalian and avian host species. However, understanding the factors that influence AstV infection within and across hosts is limited. Here, we investigated the impact of land use changes on AstVs in terrestrial small mammals in rural northeastern Madagascar. We sampled 515 small mammals, representing seven endemic and four introduced species. Twenty-two positive samples were identified, all but one of which were found in the introduced species Mus musculus and Rattus rattus (family Muridae), with a positivity rate of 7.7% (6/78) and 5.6% (15/266), respectively. The non-introduced rodent case was from an endemic shrew-tenrec (family Tenrecidae). We found the highest positivity rate of AstVs infection in brushy regrowth (17.5%, 7/40) as compared to flooded rice fields (4.60%, 8/174), secondary forest (4.1%, 3/74), agroforest (3.6%, 1/28), village (2.61%, 3/115), and semi-intact forest (0%, 0/84). A phylogenetic analysis revealed an association between AstVs and their rodent host species. None of the viruses were phylogenetically related to AstVs previously described in Malagasy bats. This study supports AstV circulation in synanthropic animals in agricultural habitats of Madagascar and highlights the need to assess the spillover risk to human populations in rural areas.
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