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NASA NTRS2014

The Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) Public Health and Air Quality Applications

The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), a group of chronic, debilitating, and poverty-promoting parasitic, bacterial, and some viral and fungal infections, are among the most common causes of illness of the poorest people living in developing countries. Abiotic environmental factors are important in determining the distribution of disease-causing vectors and their life-cycles. HyspIRI observations can be merged through a Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) be used to drive spatially-explicit ecological models of NTD vectors distribution and life cycles. Assimilations will be driven by observational data LDAS and satellite-derived meteorological forcing data, parameter datasets, and assimilation observations. HyspIRI hyperspectral measurements would provide global measurements of surface mineralogy and biotic crusts important in accessing the impact of dust in human health. HyspIRI surface thermal measurements would also help identify the variability of dust sources due to surface moisture conditions and map mineralogy.

Luvall, Jeffrey C.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Prokaryotic viruses impact functional microorganisms in nutrient removal and carbon cycle in wastewater treatment plants

As one of the largest biotechnological applications, activated sludge (AS) systems in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) harbor enormous viruses, with 10-1,000-fold higher concentrations than in natural environments. However, the compositional variation and host-connections of AS viruses remain poorly explored. Here, we report a catalogue of ~50,000 prokaryotic viruses from six WWTPs, increasing the number of described viral species of AS by 23-fold, and showing the very high viral diversity which is largely unknown (98.4-99.6% of total viral contigs). Most viral genera are represented in more than one AS system with 53 identified across all. Viral infection widely spans 8 archaeal and 58 bacterial phyla, linking viruses with aerobic/anaerobic heterotrophs, and other functional microorganisms controlling nitrogen/phosphorous removal. Notably, Mycobacterium, notorious for causing AS foaming, is associated with 402 viral genera. Our findings expand the current AS virus catalogue and provide reference for the phage treatment to control undesired microorganisms in WWTPs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2023

Virus Infection of Phytoplankton Increases Average Molar Mass and Reduces Hygroscopicity of Aerosolized Organic Matter

Viral infection of phytoplankton is a pervasive mechanism of cell death and bloom termination, which leads to the production of dissolved and colloidal organic matter that can be aerosolized into the atmosphere. Earth-observing satellites can track the growth and death of phytoplankton blooms on weekly time scales but the impact of viral infection on the cloud forming potential of associated aerosols is largely unknown. Here, we determine the influence of viral-derived organic matter, purified viruses, and marine hydrogels on the cloud condensation nuclei activity of their aerosolized solutions, compared to organic exudates from healthy phytoplankton. Dissolved organic material derived from exponentially growing and infected cells of well-characterized eukaryotic phytoplankton host-virus systems, including viruses from diatoms, coccolithophores and chlorophytes, was concentrated, desalted, and nebulized to form aerosol particles composed of primarily of organic matter. Aerosols from infected phytoplankton cultures resulted in an increase in critical activation diameter and average molar mass in three out of five combinations evaluated, along with a decrease in organic kappa (hygroscopicity) compared to healthy cultures and seawater controls. The infected samples also displayed evidence of increased surface tension depression at realistic cloud water vapor supersaturations. Amending the samples with xanthan gum to simulate marine hydrogels increased variability in organic kappa and surface tension in aerosols with high organic to salt ratios. Our findings suggest that the pulses of increased dissolved organic matter associated with viral infection in surface waters may increase the molar mass of dissolved organic compounds relative to surface waters occupied by healthy phytoplankton or low phytoplankton biomass.

Atmospheric science↗

DOE OSTI2023

Lower viral evolutionary pressure under stable versus fluctuating conditions in subzero Arctic brines

Climate change threatens Earth’s ice-based ecosystems which currently offer archives and eco-evolutionary experiments in the extreme. Arctic cryopeg brine (marine-derived, within permafrost) and sea ice brine, similar in subzero temperature and high salinity but different in temporal stability, are inhabited by microbes adapted to these extreme conditions. However, little is known about their viruses (community composition, diversity, interaction with hosts, or evolution) or how they might respond to geologically stable cryopeg versus fluctuating sea ice conditions. We used long- and short-read viromics and metatranscriptomics to study viruses in Arctic cryopeg brine, sea ice brine, and underlying seawater, recovering 11,088 vOTUs (~species-level taxonomic unit), a 4.4-fold increase of known viruses in these brines. More specifically, the long-read-powered viromes doubled the number of longer (≥25 kb) vOTUs generated and recovered more hypervariable regions by >5-fold compared to short-read viromes. Distribution assessment, by comparing to known viruses in public databases, supported that cryopeg brine viruses were of marine origin yet distinct from either sea ice brine or seawater viruses, while 94% of sea ice brine viruses were also present in seawater. A virus-encoded, ecologically important exopolysaccharide biosynthesis gene was identified, and many viruses (~half of metatranscriptome-inferred “active” vOTUs) were predicted as actively infecting the dominant microbial genera Marinobacter and Polaribacter in cryopeg and sea ice brines, respectively. Evolutionarily, microdiversity (intra-species genetic variations) analyses suggested that viruses within the stable cryopeg brine were under significantly lower evolutionary pressures than those in the fluctuating sea ice environment, while many sea ice brine virus-tail genes were under positive selection, indicating virus-host co-evolutionary arms races. Our results confirmed the benefits of long-read-powered viromics in understanding the environmental virosphere through significantly improved genomic recovery, expanding viral discovery and the potential for biological inference. Evidence of viruses actively infecting the dominant microbes in subzero brines and modulating host metabolism underscored the potential impact of viruses on these remote and underexplored extreme ecosystems. Microdiversity results shed light on different strategies viruses use to evolve and adapt when extreme conditions are stable versus fluctuating. Together, these findings verify the value of long-read-powered viromics and provide foundational data on viral evolution and virus-microbe interactions in Earth’s destabilized and rapidly disappearing cryosphere.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Virus-Like Particle: Evolving Meanings in Different Disciplines

Virus-like particle (VLP) is a term that has been in use for about 80 years. Usually, VLP has meant a particle that is like a virus, generally by appearance, but without either proven or actual virus functionality. Initially VLP referred to particles seen in electron microscope images of tissues. More recently, VLP has come to mean other things to other researchers. A key divergence has been use of VLP in association with vaccine and biotechnology applications versus use of VLP in enumeration of viruses in environmental samples. To these viral ecologists, a VLP is a particle that is virus sized, has nucleic acid, and could be a functional virus. But to vaccine developers and biotechnology researchers a VLP instead is a viral structure that intentionally lacks a viral genome. Here, we look at the history of use of VLP, following changes in meaning as the technology to study VLPs changed.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

A subset of viruses thrives following microbial resuscitation during rewetting of a seasonally dry California grassland soil

Viruses are abundant, ubiquitous members of soil communities that kill microbial cells, but how they respond to perturbation of soil ecosystems is essentially unknown. Here, we investigate lineage-specific virus-host dynamics in grassland soil following “wet-up”, when resident microbes are both resuscitated and lysed after a prolonged dry period. Quantitative isotope tracing, time-resolved metagenomics and viromic analyses indicate that dry soil holds a diverse but low biomass reservoir of virions, of which only a subset thrives following wet-up. Viral richness decreases by 50% within 24 h post wet-up, while viral biomass increases four-fold within one week. Though recent hypotheses suggest lysogeny predominates in soil, our evidence indicates that viruses in lytic cycles dominate the response to wet-up. We estimate that viruses drive a measurable and continuous rate of cell lysis, with up to 46% of microbial death driven by viral lysis one week following wet-up. Thus, viruses contribute to turnover of soil microbial biomass and the widely reported CO 2 efflux following wet-up of seasonally dry soils.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Coassembly and binning of a twenty-year metagenomic time-series from Lake Mendota

Abstract The North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research (NTL-LTER) program has been extensively used to improve understanding of how aquatic ecosystems respond to environmental stressors, climate fluctuations, and human activities. Here, we report on the metagenomes of samples collected between 2000 and 2019 from Lake Mendota, a freshwater eutrophic lake within the NTL-LTER site. We utilized the distributed metagenome assembler MetaHipMer to coassemble over 10 terabases (Tbp) of data from 471 individual Illumina-sequenced metagenomes. A total of 95,523,664 contigs were assembled and binned to generate 1,894 non-redundant metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) with ≥50% completeness and ≤10% contamination. Phylogenomic analysis revealed that the MAGs were nearly exclusively bacterial, dominated by Pseudomonadota (Proteobacteria, N = 623) and Bacteroidota (N = 321). Nine eukaryotic MAGs were identified by eukCC with six assigned to the phylum Chlorophyta. Additionally, 6,350 high-quality viral sequences were identified by geNomad with the majority classified in the phylum Uroviricota. This expansive coassembled metagenomic dataset provides an unprecedented foundation to advance understanding of microbial communities in freshwater ecosystems and explore temporal ecosystem dynamics.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Life strategies for Aminicenantia in subseafloor oceanic crust

Abstract After decades studying the microbial “deep biosphere” in subseafloor oceanic crust, the growth and life strategies in this anoxic, low energy habitat remain poorly described. Using both single cell genomics and metagenomics, we reveal the life strategies of two distinct lineages of uncultivated Aminicenantia bacteria from the basaltic subseafloor oceanic crust of the eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Both lineages appear adapted to scavenge organic carbon, as each have genetic potential to catabolize amino acids and fatty acids, aligning with previous Aminicenantia reports. Given the organic carbon limitation in this habitat, seawater recharge and necromass may be important carbon sources for heterotrophic microorganisms inhabiting the ocean crust. Both lineages generate ATP via several mechanisms including substrate-level phosphorylation, anaerobic respiration, and electron bifurcation driving an Rnf ion translocation membrane complex. Genomic comparisons suggest these Aminicenantia transfer electrons extracellularly, perhaps to iron or sulfur oxides consistent with mineralogy of this site. One lineage, called JdFR-78, has small genomes that are basal to the Aminicenantia class and potentially use “primordial” siroheme biosynthetic intermediates for heme synthesis, suggesting this lineage retain characteristics of early evolved life. Lineage JdFR-78 contains CRISPR-Cas defenses to evade viruses, while other lineages contain prophage that may help prevent super-infection or no detectable viral defenses. Overall, genomic evidence points to Aminicenantia being well adapted to oceanic crust environments by taking advantage of simple organic molecules and extracellular electron transport.

Environmental Sciences & Ecology↗

NASA NTRS2010

Filovirus Research: The Need for an Integrated Approach in Time and Space

The episodic appearance of Ebola virus (EBOV) and Marburg virus (MARV) across central Africa over the last 15 years not only underscores the importance of filoviruses as uniquely virulent agents to both human and wildlife communities but also implies a very complex transmission scenario that must be understood if we are to prevent or mitigate filovirus outbreaks in the future. Efforts of a global network of scientists and healthcare workers have expanded our knowledge of filoviruses to meet the growing threat of Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fevers in Africa. In recent decades, several newly emerging diseases have resulted in major threats to both affected communities and global public health. Viruses from wildlife hosts in particular, have exhibited a capability for cross-species transmission (CST), and have caused high-impact diseases in humans Such as Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fevers, Nipah and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SAILS). It has been estimated that about 60.3% (Jones et al. 2008) of human infectious diseases are of animal origin (zoonoses) and even some important viral diseases that are traditionally considered of human origin, for example measles and smallpox, may very well have their prehistoric origins in wildlife (Wolfe et al 2007). It maybe logical and prudent therefore, to anticipate that there are other, new filoviruses out there that will cross into humans at some point in time. If we anticipate that these will happen and wish to be prepared for and mitigate this potential, then an understanding of filoviruses as a biologic system in the environment will be essential to that process. We will need to know how the ecological dynamic of CST interacts with a 'new' viruse's evolutionary factors to overcome environmental, demographic and host-specific barriers to transmission and infectivity to humans.

Pinzon, Jorge E.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Expanding standards in viromics: in silico evaluation of dsDNA viral genome identification, classification, and auxiliary metabolic gene curation

Viruses influence global patterns of microbial diversity and nutrient cycles. Though viral metagenomics (viromics), specifically targeting dsDNA viruses, has been critical for revealing viral roles across diverse ecosystems, its analyses differ in many ways from those used for microbes. To date, viromics benchmarking has covered read pre-processing, assembly, relative abundance, read mapping thresholds and diversity estimation, but other steps would benefit from benchmarking and standardization. Here we use in silico-generated datasets and an extensive literature survey to evaluate and highlight how dataset composition (i.e., viromes vs bulk metagenomes) and assembly fragmentation impact (i) viral contig identification tool, (ii) virus taxonomic classification, and (iii) identification and curation of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs). The in silico benchmarking of five commonly used virus identification tools show that gene-content-based tools consistently performed well for long (≥3 kbp) contigs, while k -mer- and blast-based tools were uniquely able to detect viruses from short (≤3 kbp) contigs. Notably, however, the performance increase of k -mer- and blast-based tools for short contigs was obtained at the cost of increased false positives (sometimes up to ~5% for virome and ~75% bulk samples), particularly when eukaryotic or mobile genetic element sequences were included in the test datasets. Furthermore, for viral classification, variously sized genome fragments were assessed using gene-sharing network analytics to quantify drop-offs in taxonomic assignments, which revealed correct assignations ranging from ~95% (whole genomes) down to ~80% (3 kbp sized genome fragments). A similar trend was also observed for other viral classification tools such as VPF-class, ViPTree and VIRIDIC, suggesting that caution is warranted when classifying short genome fragments and not full genomes. Finally, we highlight how fragmented assemblies can lead to erroneous identification of AMGs and outline a best-practices workflow to curate candidate AMGs in viral genomes assembled from metagenomes. Together, these benchmarking experiments and annotation guidelines should aid researchers seeking to best detect, classify, and characterize the myriad viruses ‘hidden’ in diverse sequence datasets.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Viral but not bacterial community successional patterns reflect extreme turnover shortly after rewetting dry soils

As central members of soil trophic networks, viruses have the potential to drive substantial microbial mortality and nutrient turnover. Pinpointing viral contributions to terrestrial ecosystem processes remains a challenge, as temporal dynamics are difficult to unravel in the spatially and physicochemically heterogeneous soil environment. In Mediterranean grasslands, the first rainfall after seasonal drought provides an ecosystem reset, triggering microbial activity during a tractable window for capturing short-term dynamics. In this report we simulated precipitation in microcosms from four distinct dry grassland soils and generated 144 viromes, 84 metagenomes and 84 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon datasets to characterize viral, prokaryotic and relic DNA dynamics over 10 days. Vastly different viral communities in each soil followed remarkably similar successional trajectories. Wet-up triggered a significant increase in viral richness, followed by extensive compositional turnover. Temporal succession in prokaryotic communities was much less pronounced, perhaps suggesting differences in the scales of activity captured by viromes (representing recently produced, ephemeral viral particles) and total DNA. Still, differences in the relative abundances of Actinobacteria (enriched in dry soils) and Proteobacteria (enriched in wetted soils) matched those of their predicted phages, indicating viral predation of dominant bacterial taxa. Rewetting also rapidly depleted relic DNA, which subsequently reaccumulated, indicating substantial new microbial mortality in the days after wet-up, particularly of the taxa putatively under phage predation. Production of abundant, diverse viral particles via microbial host cell lysis appears to be a conserved feature of the early response to soil rewetting, and results suggest the potential for ‘Cull-the-Winner’ dynamics, whereby viruses infect and cull but do not decimate dominant host populations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Giant Virus Infection Signatures Are Modulated by Euphotic Zone Depth Strata and Iron Regimes of the Subantarctic Southern Ocean

Viruses can alter the abundance, evolution, and metabolism of microorganisms in the ocean, playing a key role in water column biogeochemistry and global carbon cycles. Large efforts to measure the contribution of eukaryotic microorganisms (e.g., protists) to the marine food web have been made, yet the in situ activities of the ecologically relevant viruses that infect these organisms are not well characterized. Viruses within the phylum Nucleocytoviricota (“giant viruses”) are known to infect a diverse range of ecologically relevant marine protists, yet how these viruses are influenced by environmental conditions remains under-characterized. By employing metatranscriptomic analyses of in situ microbial communities along a temporal and depthresolved gradient, we describe the diversity of giant viruses at the Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS), a site within the subpolar Southern Ocean. Using a phylogeny-guided taxonomic assessment of detected giant virus genomes and metagenome-assembled genomes, we observed depth-dependent structuring of divergent giant virus families mirroring dynamic physicochemical gradients in the stratified euphotic zone. Analyses of transcribed metabolic genes from giant viruses suggest viral metabolic reprogramming of hosts from the surface to a 200-m depth. Lastly, using on-deck incubations reflecting a gradient of iron availability, we show that modulating iron regimes influences the activity of giant viruses in the field. Specifically, we show enhanced infection signatures of giant viruses under both iron-replete and iron-limited conditions. Collectively, these results expand our understanding of how the water column’s vertical biogeography and chemical surroundings affect an important group of viruses within the Southern Ocean

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Diversity, taxonomy, and evolution of archaeal viruses of the class Caudoviricetes

The archaeal tailed viruses (arTV), evolutionarily related to tailed double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) bacteriophages of the class Caudoviricetes , represent the most common isolates infecting halophilic archaea. Only a handful of these viruses have been genomically characterized, limiting our appreciation of their ecological impacts and evolution. Here, we present 37 new genomes of haloarchaeal tailed virus isolates, more than doubling the current number of sequenced arTVs. Analysis of all 63 available complete genomes of arTVs, which we propose to classify into 14 new families and 3 orders, suggests ancient divergence of archaeal and bacterial tailed viruses and points to an extensive sharing of genes involved in DNA metabolism and counterdefense mechanisms, illuminating common strategies of virus–host interactions with tailed bacteriophages. Coupling of the comparative genomics with the host range analysis on a broad panel of haloarchaeal species uncovered 4 distinct groups of viral tail fiber adhesins controlling the host range expansion. The survey of metagenomes using viral hallmark genes suggests that the global architecture of the arTV community is shaped through recurrent transfers between different biomes, including hypersaline, marine, and anoxic environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Lytic archaeal viruses infect abundant primary producers in Earth’s crust

The continental subsurface houses a major portion of life’s abundance and diversity, yet little is known about viruses infecting microbes that reside there. Here, we use a combination of metagenomics and virus-targeted direct-geneFISH (virusFISH) to show that highly abundant carbon-fixing organisms of the uncultivated genus Candidatus Altiarchaeum are frequent targets of previously unrecognized viruses in the deep subsurface. Analysis of CRISPR spacer matches display resistances of Ca. Altiarchaea against eight predicted viral clades, which show genomic relatedness across continents but little similarity to previously identified viruses. Based on metagenomic information, we tag and image a putatively viral genome rich in protospacers using fluorescence microscopy. VirusFISH reveals a lytic lifestyle of the respective virus and challenges previous predictions that lysogeny prevails as the dominant viral lifestyle in the subsurface. CRISPR development over time and imaging of 18 samples from one subsurface ecosystem suggest a sophisticated interplay of viral diversification and adapting CRISPR-mediated resistances of Ca. Altiarchaeum. We conclude that infections of primary producers with lytic viruses followed by cell lysis potentially jump-start heterotrophic carbon cycling in these subsurface ecosystems.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Soil viruses: Understudied agents of soil ecology

Over the past couple decades there has been intense exploration of the soil microbiome using modern sequencing and bioinformatics approaches. These studies have revealed a vast diversity of microorganisms across a variety of habitats (Thompson et al., 2017) and how differences in the environment, for example with climate change, influence the soil microbial community composition (Jansson and Hofmockel, 2020). The focus of these studies has primarily been on microbial cellular organisms, including bacteria, archaea and fungi. By contrast, in depth study of soil viruses has been largely neglected, until recently. There are several reasons that soil viruses are less studied, including difficulties with extraction of viruses from soil particles, difficulties with classification of soil viruses based on microscopic imaging, and reliance on the small proportion of microbial hosts that can be cultivated. Now that comprehensive soil metagenomes are available the current trend has been to survey the metagenomes for viral sequences. This approach has revealed that soil viruses are incredibly abundant, highly diverse, and largely uncharacterized (Paez-Espino et al., 2016). This so-called ‘viral dark matter’ presents an incredible research opportunity for the future. Here I will highlight some of these potential research avenues based on what is known to date.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Environment-specific virocell metabolic reprogramming

Abstract Viruses impact microbial systems through killing hosts, horizontal gene transfer, and altering cellular metabolism, consequently impacting nutrient cycles. A virus-infected cell, a “virocell,” is distinct from its uninfected sister cell as the virus commandeers cellular machinery to produce viruses rather than replicate cells. Problematically, virocell responses to the nutrient-limited conditions that abound in nature are poorly understood. Here we used a systems biology approach to investigate virocell metabolic reprogramming under nutrient limitation. Using transcriptomics, proteomics, lipidomics, and endo- and exo-metabolomics, we assessed how low phosphate (low-P) conditions impacted virocells of a marine Pseudoalteromonas host when independently infected by two unrelated phages (HP1 and HS2). With the combined stresses of infection and nutrient limitation, a set of nested responses were observed. First, low-P imposed common cellular responses on all cells (virocells and uninfected cells), including activating the canonical P-stress response, and decreasing transcription, translation, and extracellular organic matter consumption. Second, low-P imposed infection-specific responses (for both virocells), including enhancing nitrogen assimilation and fatty acid degradation, and decreasing extracellular lipid relative abundance. Third, low-P suggested virocell-specific strategies. Specifically, HS2-virocells regulated gene expression by increasing transcription and ribosomal protein production, whereas HP1-virocells accumulated host proteins, decreased extracellular peptide relative abundance, and invested in broader energy and resource acquisition. These results suggest that although environmental conditions shape metabolism in common ways regardless of infection, virocell-specific strategies exist to support viral replication during nutrient limitation, and a framework now exists for identifying metabolic strategies of nutrient-limited virocells in nature.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2015

Assessing Disparities of Dengue Virus Transmission Risk across the US-Mexican Border Using a Climate Driven Vector-Epidemiological Model

Dengue fever is a mosquito‐borne viral disease reemerging throughout much of the tropical Americas. Dengue virus transmission is explicitly influenced by climate and the environment through its primary vector, Aedes aegypti. Temperature regulates Ae. aegypti development, survival, and replication rates as well as the incubation period of the virus within the mosquito. Precipitation provides water for many of the preferred breeding habitats of the mosquito, including buckets, old tires, and other places water can collect. Although transmission regularly occurs along the border region in Mexico, dengue virus transmission in bordering Arizona has not occurred. Using NASA's TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite for precipitation input and Daymet for temperature and supplemental precipitation input, we modeled dengue transmission along a US‐Mexico transect using a dynamic dengue transmission model that includes interacting vector ecology and epidemiological components. Model runs were performed for 5 cities in Sonora, Mexico and southern Arizona. Employing a Monte Carlo approach, we performed ensembles of several thousands of model simulations in order to resolve the model uncertainty arising from using different combinations of parameter values that are not well known. For cities with reported dengue case data, the top model simulations that best reproduced dengue case numbers were retained and their parameter values were extracted for comparison. These parameter values were used to run simulations in areas where dengue virus transmission does not occur or where dengue fever case data was unavailable. Additional model runs were performed to reveal how changes in climate or parameter values could alter transmission risk along the transect. The relative influence of climate variability and model parameters on dengue virus transmission is assessed to help public health workers prepare location specific infection prevention strategies.

Morin, Cory↗

NASA NTRS2013

Emerging and Reemeriging Human Bunyavirus Infections and Climate Change

The Bunyaviridae family includes a growing number of viruses that have contributed to the burden of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases around the globe. Many of these viruses cause severe clinical outcomes in human and animal populations, the results of which can be detrimental to public health and the economies of affected communities. The threat to endemic and non-native regions is particularly high, and national and international public health agencies are often on alert. Many of the bunyaviruses cause severe clinical disease including hemorrhage, organ failure, and death leading to their high-risk classification. Hantaviruses and Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) (genus Phlebovirus) are National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A priority pathogens in the United States. Viral hemorrhagic fevers, a classification that includes many bunyaviruses, are immediately notifiable in the European Union. The emergence of new and reemerging bunyaviruses has resulted in numerous human and animal fatalities. Outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF) in East Africa (1997/1998, 2006/2007), Sudan (2007), Southern Africa (2008-2010), Kenya (1997/1998, 2006/2007) (Anyamba et al., 2009, 2010; Breiman et al., 2010; Grobbelaar et al., 2011; Woods et al., 2002) and Saudi Arabia & Yemen (2000, 2010) (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2000; Hjelle and Glass, 2000; Madani et al., 2003) and the emergence of Sin Nombre virus (1993) (Hjelle and Glass, 2000) and most recently Schmallenberg virus (2011) (DEFRA, 2012) are prime examples of the devastating and worldwide toll bunyaviruses have on health and economies. Climate variability (precipitation and temperature in particular) greatly influence the ecological conditions that drive arboviral disease outbreaks across the globe. Several human and animal disease outbreaks have been influenced by changes in climate associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon including the bunyaviruses RVFV and Sin Nombre (an etiologic agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS)), as well as Murray Valley encephalitis, chikungunya, and malaria to name but a few (Anyamba et al., 2009; Bouma and Dye, 1997; Chretien et al., 2007; Engelthaler et al., 1999; Kovats et al., 2003; Linthicum et al., 1999; Nicholls, 1986). Most bunyaviruses exhibit episodic outbreak patterns with seasonal or annual trends dependent upon climate conditions, vector abundance, and the proximity of a susceptible population. The implications for continued climate change are dire, especially with regard to vector-borne diseases, many of which can cause severe morbidity, sequelae, and death. Increased rainfall and widening endemicity as a result of climate change, compounded by the emergence of new viruses, poses a serious threat to a greater geographic range beyond the regions of endemicity.

Bunyavirus↗