New isolations of the rabies-related Mokola virus from South Africa

BACKGROUND: Mokola virus (MOKV) is a rabies-related lyssavirus and appears to be exclusive to the African continent. Only 24 cases of MOKV, which includes two human cases, have been reported since its identification in 1968. MOKV has an unknown reservoir host and current commercial vaccines do not confer protection against MOKV. RESULTS: We describe three new isolations of MOKV from domestic cats in South Africa. Two cases were retrospectively identified from 2012 and an additional one in 2014. CONCLUSIONS: These cases emphasize the generally poor surveillance for rabies-related lyssaviruses and our inadequate comprehension of the epidemiology and ecology of Mokola lyssavirus per se. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-017-0948-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.