Sloths host Anhanga virus-related phleboviruses across large distances in time and space.

ABSTRACT: Sloths are genetically and physiologically divergent mammals. Phleboviruses are major arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) causing disease in humans and other animals globally. Sloths host arboviruses, but virus detections are scarce. A phlebovirus termed Anhanga virus (ANHV) was isolated from a Brazilian Linnaeus's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) in 1962. Here, we investigated the presence of phleboviruses in sera sampled in 2014 from 74 Hoffmann's two-toed (Choloepus hoffmanni, n = 65) and three-toed (Bradypus variegatus, n = 9) sloths in Costa Rica by broadly reactive RT-PCR. A clinically healthy adult Hoffmann's two-toed sloth was infected with a phlebovirus. Viral load in this animal was high at 8.5 × 10⁷  RNA copies/ml. The full coding sequence of the virus was dete

SUBMITTER: de Oliveira Filho EF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7168552 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature