Coordinated inflammatory responses dictate Marburg virus control by reservoir bats
Nature Communications·
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41467-024-46226-7
- PMID
- 38418477
- PMCID
- PMC10902335
- OpenAlex
- W4392240814
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The paper is relevant to understanding how a reservoir host limits Marburg virus and how changes in host condition might affect shedding and outbreak risk. The abstract also suggests that stressors such as food shortage and habitat disturbance could be relevant contexts for transmission.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study asks how Egyptian rousette bats control Marburg virus at local infection sites, and what happens to viral burden, shedding, and disease features when inflammatory responses are dampened.
Study design
Experimental journal study in infected Egyptian rousette bats. The abstract describes dexamethasone treatment to reduce pro-inflammatory responses and then measures viral replication, shedding, and liver pathology.
Population and setting
Egyptian rousette bats, the known reservoir host for Marburg virus. The work focuses on infected animals and liver infection sites.
Main findings
The abstract reports localized inflammatory activity at liver foci of infection, including recruited mononuclear phagocytes and proliferating T cells that were likely Marburg-virus specific. When inflammation was reduced, infected bats showed more viral replication, more oral and rectal shedding, and more severe liver damage.
Public-health relevance
The paper is relevant to understanding how a reservoir host limits Marburg virus and how changes in host condition might affect shedding and outbreak risk. The abstract also suggests that stressors such as food shortage and habitat disturbance could be relevant contexts for transmission.
Important limitations
The abstract suggests that earlier bulk-tissue transcriptional work may miss localized inflammatory responses, which is a key interpretive constraint. This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the original paper is needed for full methods, sample-size, and statistical interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
This is a peer-reviewed 2024 Nature Communications article that is easy to index through its DOI and topic labels, including One Health, outbreak investigation, and transmission dynamics. It provides contextual evidence about bat-host control of Marburg virus rather than a live surveillance observation.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 8 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.