ArticleNature communications2013
Continent-wide panmixia of an African fruit bat facilitates transmission of potentially zoonotic viruses.
Article in Nature communications, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 127 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prioritizing surveillance of Nipah virus in India.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Pooled it
- Serological and transcriptomic response of African fruit bats to immune challenge with recombinant vaccines expressing Ebola or Nipah virus antigens.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Extreme Mobility Creates Contrasting Patterns of Panmixia, Isolation-by-Distance and Hybridization in Four Flying-Fox Species (Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Wildlife health in the One Health era: lessons from a 200-year institutional case study.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2026Article
- Modelling land use-induced foraging distributions of flying foxes and emerging spillover risks.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- De novo recovery of Ghana virus, an African bat Henipavirus, reveals differential tropism and attenuated pathogenicity compared to Nipah virus.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Adapting flow cytometry for studying immune cell seasonality in wild migratory bats.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Cross-neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in sera from straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) in Nigeria.BMC veterinary research · 2025Article
- Serological and molecular analysis of henipavirus infections in synanthropic fruit bat and rodent populations in the Centre and North regions of Cameroon (2018-2020).BMC veterinary research · 2025Article
- Article
- Studying bats using a One Health lens: bridging the gap between bat virology and disease ecology.Journal of virology · 2024Review
- Ecological and Reproductive Cycles Drive Henipavirus Seroprevalence in the African Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat (Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Ectoparasite and bacterial population genetics and community structure indicate extent of bat movement across an island chain.Parasitology · 2024Article
- Development and evaluation of a quadruple real-time fluorescence-based quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay for detecting Langya, Mojiang, Nipah, and Cedar viruses.Biosafety and health · 2024Article
- Recombinant Soluble Henipavirus Glycoprotein Preparation.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Serological evidence of virus infection inFrontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Reproduction, seasonal morphology, and juvenile growth in three Malagasy fruit bats.Journal of mammalogy · 2022Article
- Henipaviruses: an expanding global public health concern?GeroScience · 2022Review
- Seasonal shedding of coronavirus by straw-colored fruit bats at urban roosts in Africa.PloS one · 2022Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The straw-coloured fruit bat, Eidolon helvum, is Africa's most widely distributed and commonly hunted fruit bat, often living in close proximity to human populations. This species has been identified as a reservoir of potentially zoonotic viruses, but uncertainties remain regarding viral transmission dynamics and mechanisms of persistence. Here we combine genetic and serological analyses of populations across Africa, to determine the extent of epidemiological connectivity among E. helvum populations. Multiple markers reveal panmixia across the continental range, at a greater geographical scale than previously recorded for any other mammal, whereas populations on remote islands were genetically distinct. Multiple serological assays reveal antibodies to henipaviruses and Lagos bat virus in all locations, including small isolated island populations, indicating that factors other than population size and connectivity may be responsible for viral persistence. Our findings have potentially important public health implications, and highlight a need to avoid disturbances that may precipitate viral spillover.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.