No abstract

Cases of canine rabies continue to occur in North and Northeast Brazil, and the number of notifications of rabies cases in wild canids has increased as a result of the expansion of urban areas at the expense of areas with native vegetation. In light of this, we performed molecular characterization of rabies virus isolates from dogs and Cerdocyon thous from various states in North and Northeast Brazil. In all, 102 samples from dogs (n = 56) and Cerdocyon thous (n = 46) collected between 2006 and 2012 were used. The nucleotide sequences obtained for the N gene of rabies virus were analyzed, and phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of two distinct genetic lineages, one associated with canids and one with bats, and, within the canid cluster, two distinct sublineages circulating among dogs and Cerdocyon thous. In addition, phylogenetic groups associated with geographic region and fourteen cases of interspecific infection were observed among the isolates from canids. Our findings show that analysis of rabies virus lineages isolated from reservoirs such as canids must be constantly evaluated because the mutation rate is high.

Here, we compared the growth kinetics, cell-to-cell spread, and virus internalization kinetics in N2a cells of RABV variants isolated from vampire bats (V-3), domestic dogs (V-2) and marmosets (V-M) as well as the clinical symptoms and mortality caused by these variants. The replication rate of V-3 was significantly higher than those of V-2 and V-M. However, the uptake and spread of these RABV variants into N2a cells were inversely proportional. Nevertheless, V-3 had longer incubation and evolution periods. Our results provide evidence that the clinical manifestations of infection with bat RABV variant occur at a later time when compared to what was observed with canine and marmoset rabies virus variants.

No abstract

No abstract