Duvenhage lyssavirus explained

Duvenhage lyssavirus (DUVV) is a member of the genus Lyssavirus, which also contains the rabies virus. The virus was discovered in 1970, when a South African farmer (after whom the virus is named) died of a rabies-like encephalitic illness, after being bitten by a bat.^[1] In 2006, Duvenhage virus killed a second person, when a man was scratched by a bat in North West Province, South Africa, 80 km from the 1970 infection.^[2] He developed a rabies-like illness 27 days after the bat encounter, and died 14 days after the onset of illness. A 34-year-old woman who died in Amsterdam on December 8, 2007, was the third recorded fatality. She had been scratched on the nose by a small bat while travelling through Kenya in October 2007, and was admitted to hospital four weeks later with rabies-like symptoms.^[3]

Microbats are believed to be the natural reservoir of Duvenhage virus. It has been isolated twice from insectivorous bats, in 1981 from Miniopterus schreibersi, and in 1986 from Nycteris thebaica,^[2] and the virus is closely related to another bat-associated lyssavirus endemic to Africa, Lagos bat lyssavirus.

Notes and References

1. Tignor G. H. . Murphy, F. A. . Clark, H. F. . Shope, R. E. . Madore, P. . Bauer, S. P. . Buckley, S. M. . Meredith, C. D. . Duvenhage Virus: Morphological, Biochemical, Histopathological and Antigenic Relationships to the Rabies Serogroup . Journal of General Virology . 37 . 3 . 595–611 . 1977 . 10.1099/0022-1317-37-3-595 . free .
2. Paweska, J. T. . Blumberg, L. H. . Liebenberg, C. . Hewlett, R. H. . Grobbelaar, A. A. . Leman, P. A. . Croft, J. E. . Nel, L. H. . Nutt, L. . Swanepoel, R. . Fatal Human Infection with Rabies-Related Duvenhage Virus, South Africa . Emerging Infectious Diseases . 12 . 12 . 1965–1967 . December 2006 . 17326954 . 10.3201/eid1212.060764 . 3291369.
3. van Thiel, P. P. . van den Hoek, J. A. . Eftimov, F. . Tepaske, R. . Zaaijer, H. J. . Spanjaard, L. . de Boer, H. E. . van Doornum G. J. . Schutten M. . Osterhaus, A. . Kager, P. A. . Fatal Case of Human Rabies (Duvenhage Virus) from a Bat in Kenya: The Netherlands, December 2007 . . 13 . 2 . 1–2 . January 2008 . 10.2807/ese.13.02.08007-en . 18445390 . Article ID 8007 . 2012-02-24 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304195130/http://www.eurosurveillance.org/images/dynamic/EE/V13N02/art8007.pdf . dead .