Marburg virus infection in Egyptian rousette bats, South Africa, 2013-2014

We detected a high seroprevalence of Marburg virus (MARV) antibodies in fruit bats in South Africa; 19.1% of recaptured bats seroconverted. The MARV RNA isolated closely resembled the 1975 Ozolin strain. These findings indicate endemic MARV circulation in bats in South Africa and should inform policies on MARV disease risk reduction.Some preliminary results from this study were presented at the 6th International Symposium on Filoviruses; March 30–April 2, 2014; Galveston, Texas, USA.The Global Disease Detection Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant no. GDD 5U19 GH000571-05/96667), South African National Research Foundation (grant no. UID 98339), and Poliomyelitis Research Foundation (12/14). The research was also partially supported by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (CB10246), Targeted Acquisition of Reference Materials Augmenting Capabilities Initiative, and US Defense Biological Product Assurance Office (task order award FA4600-12-D-9000).http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eidam2019Medical VirologyMicrobiology and Plant Patholog