First complete genomic sequencing of recent canine rabies viruses in Sierra Leone suggests cross-border transmission of Africa 2H subclade
Sheng Sun, Abdul Gudush Jalloh, Jinxia Zhang, Shuo Yu, Xiankai Liu, Weidi Xu, Yan Liu, Changchun Tu, Ye Feng · 2026
Read First complete genomic sequencing of recent canine rabies viruses in Sierra Leone suggests cross-border transmission of Africa 2H subclade by Sheng Sun, Abdul Gudush Jalloh, Jinxia Zhang, Shuo Yu, Xiankai Liu, Weidi Xu, Yan Liu, Changchun Tu, Ye Feng (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13469298.txt.
Description
Sheng Sun and colleagues report in a 2026 letter the first complete genome sequences of rabies viruses collected recently in Sierra Leone. Rabies kills an estimated 21,500 people a year in Africa, yet West African virus sequences are scarce, so transmission patterns across the region stay murky. The team sequenced three full viral genomes and placed them on the family tree of African rabies lineages.
All three belonged to the Africa 2H subclade, endemic to the region, and closely matched viruses from neighboring countries, evidence that the virus crosses borders with dogs rather than evolving in isolation. Dog vaccination coverage in Sierra Leone remains low. The authors argue the finding makes rabies control a regional coordination problem: vaccination and surveillance that stop at a national border will keep failing against a virus that does not.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Sheng Sun, Abdul Gudush Jalloh, Jinxia Zhang, Shuo Yu, Xiankai Liu, Weidi Xu, Yan Liu, Changchun Tu, Ye Feng |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 13047 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |