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The evolutionary history and dynamics of dog rabies virus in west and central Africa

¹ UPRE Lyssavirus Dynamics and Host Adaptation. Pasteur Institut.;
² Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University.;
³ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Research & Development Department;
⁴ Laboratoire Arbovirologie, Institut Pasteur de Dakar;
⁵ Laboratoire des Arbovirus et Fièvres H&eacutemorragiques Virales, Institut Pasteur de Bangui;
⁶ Direction des Laboratoires Vétérinaires, Niamey, Niger.;
⁷ Laboratoire Central Vétérinaire. Bamako, Mali.;
⁸ Centre National d'Elevage et de Recherche Vét&eacuterinaires (CNERV), Nouakchott, Mauritanie.;
⁹ Virology Department, Laboratoire Nati.onal d'Elevage, Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso;
¹⁰ Institut Pasteur de Côte d'Ivoire.;
¹¹ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Research & Development Department.;
¹² Laboratoire Arbovirologie, Institut Pasteur de Dakar.

¹³ E-mail: hbourhy{at}pasteur.fr

The burden of rabies in Africa is estimated at 24,000 human deaths per year, almost all of which result from infection with dog rabies viruses (RABV). To investigate the evolutionary dynamics of RABV in western and central Africa, we collected and sequenced 92 isolates sampled from 27 African countries over a time period of 29 years. This revealed that RABV currently circulating in dogs in this region fell into a single lineage designated 'Africa 2'. A detailed analysis of the phylogeographic 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, a Bayesian coalescent analysis suggested that the Africa 2 lineage was only recently introduced into this region of Africa (most likely less than 200 years ago), in accordance with the time-scale of expanding European colonial influence and urbanization, and then spread relatively slowly, perhaps occupying the entire region in a 100-year period.

Received 7 October 2008; accepted 21 December 2008.