Abstract:
Despite itsnearpan-Africanrange,theNatalmultimammatemouse, Mastomysnatalensis, carriesthe
human pathogenLassavirusonlyinWestAfrica,whiletheseeminglynon-pathogenicarenaviruses
Mopeia, Morogoro,andLunahavebeendetectedinthissemi-commensalrodentinMozambique/
Zimbabwe,TanzaniaandZambia,respectively.Here,wedescribeanovelarenavirusin M. natalensis from
Gairo districtofcentralTanzania,forwhichweproposethename “Gairo virus”. Surprisingly,thevirusis
not closelyrelatedwithMorogorovirusthatinfects M. natalensis only 90kmsouthofGairo,butclusters
phylogeneticallywithMobala-likevirusesthatinfectnon-M. natalensis host speciesinCentralAfrican
RepublicandEthiopia.Despitetheevolutionarydistance,Gairovirussharesbasicecologicalfeatures
with theother M. natalensis-borne virusesLassaandMorogoro.Ourdatashowthat M. natalensis,
carrying distantlyrelatedviruseseveninthesamegeographicalarea,isapotentreservoirhostfora
varietyofarenaviruses.
