Bundibugyo virus

Bundibugyo virus (/ˌbʊndiˈbʊdʒɔː/ BUUN-dee-BUUJ-aw; BDBV) is a close relative of the much more commonly known Ebola virus (EBOV). BDBV causes severe disease in humans and (experimentally) in nonhuman primates, the Ebola hemorrhagic fever. BDBV is a Select Agent, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogen (requiring Biosafety Level 4-equivalent containment), National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogen, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Category A Bioterrorism Agent, and is listed as a Biological Agent for Export Control by the Australia Group. Bundibugyo virus (abbreviated BDBV) was first described in 2008 as a single member of a suggested new species Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which was suggested to be included into the genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales. The name Bundibugyo virus is derived from Bundibugyo (the name of the chief town of the Ugandan Bundibugyo District, where it was first discovered) and the taxonomic suffix virus. According to the rules for taxon naming established by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), the name Bundibugyo virus is always to be capitalized, but is never italicized, and may be abbreviated (with BDBV being the official abbreviation). Bundibugyo virus was first introduced as Bundibugyo ebolavirus in 2008, albeit without differentiating this name from the suggested species Bundibugyo ebolavirus. Another name introduced at the same time was Uganda ebolavirus. Later publications also referred to the virus as a novel 'strain' of Ebola virus or as Bundibugyo Ebola virus. The abbreviations BEBOV (for Bundibugyo ebolavirus) and UEBOV (for Uganda ebolavirus) were briefly used before BDBV was established as the abbreviation for Bundibugyo virus. A virus of the species Bundibugyo ebolavirus is a Bundibugyo virus if it has the properties of Bundibugyo ebolaviruses and if its genome diverges from that of the prototype Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Bundibugyo virus variant #811250 (BDBV/#811250), by ≤10% at the nucleotide level. BDBV is one of four ebolaviruses that causes Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans (in the literature also often referred to as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, EHF). EVD due to BDBV infection cannot be differentiated from EVD caused by other ebolaviruses by clinical observation alone, which is why the clinical presentation and pathology of infections by all ebolaviruses is presented together on a separate page (see Ebola virus disease). BDBV made its first appearance on August 1 of 2007, when a viral hemorrhagic fever outbreak began in the Bundibugyo and Kikyo townships of Bundibugyo District in western Uganda. Blood samples from suspect cases were sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where the presence of an ebolavirus was confirmed on November 29, 2007. In depth analysis revealed that the present ebolavirus was a relative, but not identical, to the other four ebolaviruses known at the time. The outbreak was declared over on February 20, 2008. A second outbreak was reported by the WHO August 17, 2012 suspected to have infected 15 and killed 10 including 3 health care workers in Isiro, Pawa and Dungu, Province Orientale, DRC. 2 of the cases have been confirmed to be BDBV. It is reported that bushmeat was the source. By Sept 3, the WHO reported that the number of cases had risen to 28, with 8 confirmed, 6 probable and 14 suspected, including 14 deaths, and as of 12 September, it had spread to Viadana and a total of '41 cases (9 laboratory confirmed, and 32 probable) have been reported from Haut-Uélé district in Province Orientale. Of these cases, 18 have been fatal. (5 confirmed and 13 probable). 18 healthcare workers are included among the probable cases. 28 suspected cases have also been reported and are being investigated.'. In a press release, the Democratic Republic of Congo announced a final tally of 77 cases (36 confirmed, 17 probable and 24 suspect) with 36 deaths. The ecology of BDBV is currently unclear and no reservoir host has yet been identified. Therefore, it remains unclear how BDBV was introduced into the human population. Bats are suspected to harbor the virus because infectious Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV), two distantly related filoviruses, have been isolated from bats, and because traces (but no infectious particles) of the more closely related Ebola virus (EBOV) were found in bats as well.