{ "abstract": "Bats and rodents have been identified as reservoir hosts of diverse RNA viruses that pose potential risks to humans. However, overall virus prevalence in wildlife and underlying factors determining the zoonotic potential of reservoir-borne viruses remain poorly characterized. Virus detection often relies on the identification of viral nucleotide sequences and may therefore be limited by variable virus concentration, tissue tropism, sample quality, and duration of infection. In this study, we applied a multiplex immunofluorescence assay to examine bat and rodent seroprevalence against 14 different human pathogenic RNA viruses spanning seven virus families (Coronaviridae, Flaviviridae, Hantaviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Phenuiviridae, Pneumoviridae, Togaviridae). We retrospectively analyzed 1,135 bat (16 species) and 454 rodent (14 species) blood or transudate specimens collected at 63 sites in seven countries. The tropical bats in our dataset exhibited notably high rates of seropositivity against certain virus families (Flaviviridae: 42.7%; Paramyxoviridae: 67.7%; Togaviridae: 7.5%). Although confounding factors and sparse data continue to pose challenges to identifying correlates of RNA virus infection in wildlife, multivariable logistic regression models were created to provisionally evaluate the association of tropical bat characteristics with seropositivity. Preliminary findings indicate that large colony size, found among species such as Eidolon helvum and Rousettus aegyptiacus, is a predictor within this dataset of orthoflavi- and orthorubulavirus seroprevalence, consistent with the communal spread of bat-adapted viruses. Author summary: Many animal populations carry viruses that have the potential to spill over to humans and cause severe disease. Despite surveillance efforts, it is logistically challenging to detect virus infections in wildlife, as viruses may have a short duration of infection or unknown routes of transmission. In this study, we examined blood and transudate samples from rodents and bats at 63 sites in seven countries for antibodies against 14 different viruses from seven virus families known to cause disease in humans. We analyzed the samples via a mosaic chip-based immunofluorescence test, which has the advantage of detecting antibodies against whole-virus antigen. This method allows for broad surveillance, as we would also expect to uncover evidence of past infection with bat- and rodent-adapted viruses that are related, but not identical, to known human pathogens. We detected antibodies against all seven virus families we examined, with especially high detection rates of antibodies in tropical bats. Although confounding factors and sparse data continue to pose challenges to identifying correlates of RNA virus infection in wildlife, we used the results to construct multivariable logistic regression models of tropical bat seroprevalence to examine potential associations between tropical bat characteristics and previous infection by certain virus families. Bats with large colony sizes, such as Eidolon helvum and Rousettus aegyptiacus, showed higher seropositivity against orthoflavi- and orthorubulavirus antigen compared to other tropical bat species.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Institute of Virology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.", "German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Berlin, Germany.", "International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Seoul, Korea.", "Institute for Experimental Immunology, affiliated to EUROIMMUN Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, Lübeck, Germany.", "Institute of Virology, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.", "German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany.", "Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital of Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.", "Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), Cologne, Germany.", "Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany.", "Fledermaus-Rausch-Umweltgutachten, Flintbek, Germany.", "Department of Medicine II, Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.", "Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancon, Panama.", "Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF), Franceville, Gabon.", "Institut National Supérieur d'Agronomie et de Biotechnologies (INSAB), Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku (USTM), Franceville, Gabon.", "Department of Arbovirology and Entomology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.", "Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.", "Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.", "Department of Wildlife and Range Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.", "Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.", "Center for infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.", "Division Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Department Biomolecular Health Sciences, Faculty Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.", "Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.", "Recherches translationnelles sur le VIH et les maladies infectieuses (TransVIHMI), Université de Montpellier-IRD-Inserm, Montpellier, France.", "Centre for Pathogen Evolution, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom." ], "article_type": "Research Article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 24, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Jackson Emanuel", "orcid": "0000-0002-6246-5255" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Jan Papies" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Leonie Meiners" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Talitha Veith" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Victor M Corman" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Tabea Binger" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Erik Lattwein" }, { "affs": [ 4, 5 ], "name": "Beate M Kümmerer" }, { "affs": [ 6, 7 ], "name": "Susanne Zweerink" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Kai Fechner" }, { "affs": [ 8, 9 ], "name": "Florian Gloza-Rausch" }, { "affs": [ 10, 11 ], "name": "Veronika Cottontail" }, { "affs": [ 12, 13 ], "name": "Gaël D Maganga" }, { "affs": [ 14, 15 ], "name": "Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit" }, { "affs": [ 16 ], "name": "Peter Vallo" }, { "affs": [ 17 ], "name": "Samuel K Oppong" }, { "affs": [ 11, 18 ], "name": "Marco Tschapka" }, { "affs": [ 19, 20 ], "name": "Chantal B E M Reusken" }, { "affs": [ 21 ], "name": "Rainer G Ulrich" }, { "affs": [ 22 ], "name": "Eric M Leroy" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Jan Felix Drexler" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1, 23 ], "name": "Terry C Jones" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Christian Drosten" }, { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Marcel A Müller", "orcid": "0000-0003-2242-5117" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7kj959ck3hgyv.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.1371/journal.pntd.0013689", "fulltext_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0013689", "id": "7kj959ck3hgyv", "issns": [ "1935-2735", "1935-2727" ], "landing_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0013689", "language": "eng", "licence": "CC-BY", "licence_label": "CC BY", "licence_source": "article", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "openalex", "2739|Zoonotic diseases and public health" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Proteins/Immune system proteins/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Medical microbiology/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Bunyaviruses/Rift Valley fever virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Medical microbiology/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Flaviviruses/West Nile virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Medical microbiology/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Paramyxoviruses/Mumps virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Medical microbiology/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Togaviruses/Alphaviruses/Chikungunya virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Eukaryota/Animals/Vertebrates/Amniotes/Mammals/Bats" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Eukaryota/Animals/Vertebrates/Amniotes/Mammals/Rodents" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/RNA viruses" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/RNA viruses/Bunyaviruses/Rift Valley fever virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/RNA viruses/Flaviviruses/West Nile virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/RNA viruses/Paramyxoviruses/Mumps virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/RNA viruses/Togaviruses/Alphaviruses/Chikungunya virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/Viral pathogens/Bunyaviruses/Rift Valley fever virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/Viral pathogens/Flaviviruses/West Nile virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/Viral pathogens/Paramyxoviruses/Mumps virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Viruses/Viral pathogens/Togaviruses/Alphaviruses/Chikungunya virus" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Immune physiology/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Zoology/Animals/Vertebrates/Amniotes/Mammals/Bats" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Zoology/Animals/Vertebrates/Amniotes/Mammals/Rodents" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Pathology and laboratory medicine/Pathogens/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Bunyaviruses/Rift Valley fever virus" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Pathology and laboratory medicine/Pathogens/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Flaviviruses/West Nile virus" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Pathology and laboratory medicine/Pathogens/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Paramyxoviruses/Mumps virus" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Pathology and laboratory medicine/Pathogens/Microbial pathogens/Viral pathogens/Togaviruses/Alphaviruses/Chikungunya virus" ] ], "openalex": "W7221097668", "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0013689&type=printable", "pmcid": "PMC13674865", "pmid": "42853873", "published": "2026-10-09", "publisher": "Public Library of Science", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7kj959ck3hgyv.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:30Z", "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pntd.0013689", "source": "plos", "url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0013689" }, { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:12Z", "native_id": "MED:42853873", "source": "europepmc", "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42853873" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "biology", "origin": "plos:immunology", "subfield": "immunology" }, { "field": "biology", "origin": "plos:microbiology", "subfield": "microbiology" }, { "field": "biology", "origin": "plos:zoology", "subfield": "zoology-behaviour" } ], "title": "A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae", "title_text": "A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:12Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7kj959ck3hgyv", "venue": "PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases", "versions": [] }