Data from: Disentangling serology to elucidate henipa‐ and filovirus transmission in Madagascar fruit bats

Bats are reservoirs for emerging human pathogens, including Hendra and
Nipah henipaviruses and Ebola and Marburg filoviruses. These viruses
demonstrate predictable patterns in seasonality and age structure across
multiple systems; previous work suggests that they may circulate in
Madagascar's endemic fruit bats, which are widely consumed as human
food. We aimed to (a) document the extent of henipa‐ and filovirus
exposure among Malagasy fruit bats, (b) explore seasonality in
seroprevalence and serostatus in these bat populations and (c) compare
mechanistic hypotheses for possible transmission dynamics underlying these
data. To this end, we amassed and analysed a unique dataset documenting
longitudinal serological henipa‐ and filovirus dynamics in three
Madagascar fruit bat species. We uncovered serological evidence of
exposure to Hendra‐/Nipah‐related henipaviruses in Eidolon dupreanum,
Pteropus rufus and Rousettus madagascariensis, to Cedar‐related
henipaviruses in E. dupreanum and R. madagascariensis and to Ebola‐related
filoviruses in P. rufus and R. madagascariensis. We demonstrated
significant seasonality in population‐level seroprevalence and individual
serostatus for multiple viruses across these species, linked to the female
reproductive calendar. An age‐structured subset of the data highlighted
evidence of waning maternal antibodies in neonates, increasing
seroprevalence in young and decreasing seroprevalence late in life.
Comparison of mechanistic epidemiological models fit to these data offered
support for transmission hypotheses permitting waning antibodies but
retained immunity in adult‐age bats. Our findings suggest that bats may
seasonally modulate mechanisms of pathogen control, with consequences for
population‐level transmission. Additionally, we narrow the field of
candidate transmission hypotheses by which bats are presumed to host and
transmit potentially zoonotic viruses globally.