Résumé
In 2009, an outbreak of three cases of acute hemorrhagic fever occurred in the Bas-Congo province of Democratic Republic of the Congo. The clinical presentation included abrupt onset of disease, fever, mucosal and gastrointestinal hemorrhages, and death within 3 days for the first two cases. The single serum sample was collected from the lone survivor, the nurse who cared for them. Since laboratory tests for all known viral hemorrhagic fever viruses in Central Africa were negative, extracted RNA from the serum sample were retrospectively analyzed by next-generation sequencing, leading to the discovery and whole-genome assembly of a new rhabdovirus, named Bas-Congo virus (BASV). BASV is highly divergent from other known rhabdoviruses, and is phylogenetically related to the dipteran-mammal-associated rhabdovirus supergroup. Specific neutralizing antibodies were detected in the convalescent serum of the survivor and an asymptomatic close contact. Although the source of infection and mode of transmission for BASV have not yet been established, phylogenetic and epidemiologic data suggest potential arthropod-borne transmission with nosocomial spread between humans.