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Evolutionary history and dynamics of dog rabies virus in western and central Africa

¹ Institut Pasteur, UPRE Lyssavirus Dynamics and Host Adaptation, National Reference Centre for Rabies, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Rabies, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France
² Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, Mueller Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA
³ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Research and Development Department, Rabies Unit, Viale dell'Università 10, Legnaro, Padova, Italy
⁴ Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Laboratoire Arbovirologie, 36 Avenue Pasteur, BP 220, Dakar, Senegal
⁵ Institut Pasteur de Bangui, Laboratoire des Arbovirus et Fièvres Hémorragiques Virales, BP 923, Bangui, Central African Republic
⁶ Direction des Laboratoires Vétérinaires, Niamey, Niger
⁷ Laboratoire Central Vétérinaire, km 8 route de Koulikoro, BP 2295, Bamako, Mali
⁸ Centre National d'Elevage et de Recherche Vétérinaires, Nouakchott, Mauritania
⁹ Virology Department, Laboratoire National d'Elevage, BP 7026, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso
¹⁰ Institut Pasteur de Côte d'Ivoire, Unité des Virus du Système Nerveux, Département des Virus Epidémiques, 01 BP 490 Abidjan 01, Ivory Coast

Correspondence
Hervé Bourhy
herve.bourhy{at}pasteur.fr

The burden of rabies in Africa is estimated at 24 000 human deaths year^–1, almost all of which result from infection with dog rabies viruses (RABV). To investigate the evolutionary dynamics of RABV in western and central Africa, 92 isolates sampled from 27 African countries over 29 years were collected and sequenced. This revealed that RABV currently circulating in dogs in this region fell into a single lineage designated ‘Africa 2’. A detailed analysis of the phylogeographical structure of this Africa 2 lineage revealed strong population subdivision at the country level, with only limited movement of virus among localities, including a possible east-to-west spread across Africa. In addition, Bayesian coalescent analysis suggested that the Africa 2 lineage was introduced into this region of Africa only recently (probably <200 years ago), in accordance with the timescale of expanding European colonial influence and urbanization, and then spread relatively slowly, perhaps occupying the entire region in a 100 year period.

Published online ahead of print on 9 January 2009 as DOI 10.1099/vir.0.007765-0.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for newly acquired sequences are EU853566–EU853657 and FJ545659–FJ545685.

A supplementary table showing epidemiological information for all RABV isolates analysed in this study is available with the online version of this paper.