Serological evidence of exposure to filoviruses in bats and humans in Ghana

Filoviruses, including the likely bat-borne Ebola virus (EBOV) and Marburg virus (MARV), cause severe hemorrhagic fevers in humans. The 2013-2016 EBOV outbreak caused >11,000 human fatalities in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Nearby countries, including Ghana, have been under sampled for filoviruses relative to West African countries where large outbreaks have occurred. While there have been no reported EBOV disease cases in Ghana, there were two fatal MARV disease cases in 2022, suggesting that at least one filovirus is circulating in the country. In this study, we investigated filovirus circulation in fruit bats and humans in Ghana. We leveraged an extensive serological dataset collected from multiple fruit bat species (n = 6,874) and humans (n = 1,300) across a decade in Ghana (2010-2020), including both rural and urban regions. We observed evidence of MARV circulation in Rousettus aegyptiacus bats, a presumed reservoir, as well as occasional seropositivity in sympatric bat species, suggesting that these other bats are incidental, dead-end hosts. Multivariate analyses suggested that multiple, partially cross-reactive filoviruses are circulating among fruit bats in Ghana. Finally, people who reported spending time in caves and hunting bats had higher serological reactivity against EBOV and MARV relative to individuals with no direct bat exposure, indicating possible undetected filovirus spillover at the bat-human interface in Ghana.