Novel, Divergent Simian Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses in a Wild Ugandan Red Colobus Monkey Discovered Using Direct Pyrosequencing

Lauck, Michael; Hyeroba, David; Tumukunde, Alex; Weny, Geoffrey; Lank, Simon M.; Chapman, Colin A.; O'Connor, David H.; Friedrich, Thomas C.; Goldberg, Tony L.

Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) was discovered during an ''explosive'' outbreak of hemorrhagic disease in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in 1964 [1] . Since then, sporadic epidemics have occurred in macaques, likely as a result of contact with, or iatrogenic transmission from, infected but asymptomatic captive African monkeys [2, 3, 4] . Viruses related to SHFV have not yet been found to infect humans, but the clinical manifestations of SHFV resemble those of other primate-associated hemorrhagic fever viruses significant for human health (e.g. Ebola, Marburg, Yellow fever), making SHFV of interest with respect to emerging infectious disease surveillance and biodefense [4, 5] . Although asymptomatic SHFV infections in captive patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas), vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), and baboons (Papio sp.) suggest that such species could be natural SHFV reservoirs [2, 3] , the virus has never, to our knowledge, been found in a primate in the wild.