Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27414412›Full record

ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2016

Undiscovered Bat Hosts of Filoviruses.

Barbara A Han, John Paul Schmidt, Laura W Alexander, Sarah E Bowden, David T S Hayman, John M Drake

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
64citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
10.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

64 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 107 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Host phylogenetic distance drives trends in virus virulence and transmissibility across the animal-human interface.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019
    Pooled it
  3. Prioritizing surveillance of Nipah virus in India.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019
    Pooled it
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  11. Pathogens and planetary change.Nature reviews. Biodiversity · 2025
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  18. Glycosylation and the global virome.Molecular ecology · 2023
    Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Barbara A HanCary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-9948-3078
John Paul SchmidtOdum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America.
Laura W AlexanderUniversity of California, Integrative Biology, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
Sarah E BowdenCary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, United States of America.
David T S HaymanMolecular Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory, Hopkirk Research Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
John M DrakeOdum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America.
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies · USUniversity of Georgia · USMassey University · NZ

Funding

Forecasting tipping points in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseasesU01GM110744 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · PI DRAKE, JOHN M, EPUREANU, BOGDAN · 2014 to 2018
$3.2M
NIGMS NIH HHS U01 GM110744
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Ebola and other filoviruses pose significant public health and conservation threats by causing high mortality in primates, including humans. Preventing future outbreaks of ebolavirus depends on identifying wildlife reservoirs, but extraordinarily high biodiversity of potential hosts in temporally dynamic environments of equatorial Africa contributes to sporadic, unpredictable outbreaks that have hampered efforts to identify wild reservoirs for nearly 40 years. Using a machine learning algorithm, generalized boosted regression, we characterize potential filovirus-positive bat species with estimated 87% accuracy. Our model produces two specific outputs with immediate utility for guiding filovirus surveillance in the wild. First, we report a profile of intrinsic traits that discriminates hosts from non-hosts, providing a biological caricature of a filovirus-positive bat species. This profile emphasizes traits describing adult and neonate body sizes and rates of reproductive fitness, as well as species' geographic range overlap with regions of high mammalian diversity. Second, we identify several bat species ranked most likely to be filovirus-positive on the basis of intrinsic trait similarity with known filovirus-positive bats. New bat species predicted to be positive for filoviruses are widely distributed outside of equatorial Africa, with a majority of species overlapping in Southeast Asia. Taken together, these results spotlight several potential host species and geographical regions as high-probability targets for future filovirus surveillance.

Indexed as

AfricaAnimalsChiropteraFemaleFiloviridaeHost SpecificityMale

Identifiers

PMID27414412
PMCPMC4945033
OpenAlexW2472069494

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.