Australian bat lyssavirus

Merritt, Tony; Taylor, Kathryn; Cox-Witton, Keren; Field, Hume; Wingett, Kate; Méndez, Diana; Power, Michelle; Dürrheim, David N

doi:10.31128/afp-08-17-4314

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Screening of Australian bat populations has shown ABLV in five out of six bat families present, and widespread prevalence [ 9 ]. As such, all contact with bats should be considered a potential transmission event, and exposed individuals should receive post-exposure prophylaxis in the form of a rabies vaccine and hIG as these species are in the same lyssavirus phylogroup, and cross-reactivity is present [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Determination of the Australian Bat Lyssavirus Nucleoprotein and Phosphoprotein Complex

Donnelly,

Stewart,

Roby

et al. 2023

Viruses

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Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) shows similar clinical symptoms as rabies, but there are currently no protein structures available for ABLV proteins. In lyssaviruses, the interaction between nucleoprotein (N) and phosphoprotein (N) in the absence of RNA generates a complex (N0P) that is crucial for viral assembly, and understanding the interface between these two proteins has the potential to provide insight into a key feature: the viral lifecycle. In this study, we used recombinant chimeric protein expression and X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of ABLV nucleoprotein bound to residues 1–40 of its phosphoprotein chaperone. Comparison of our results with the recently generated structure of RABV CVS-11 N0P demonstrated a highly conserved interface in this complex. Because the N0P interface is conserved in the lyssaviruses of phylogroup I, it is an attractive therapeutic target for multiple rabies-causing viral species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Determination of the Australian Bat Lyssavirus Nucleoprotein and Phosphoprotein Complex

Donnelly,

Stewart,

Roby

et al. 2023

Viruses

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“…Human exposure can occur through a bite or scratch from animals infected with rabies or other lyssavirus (Mahadevan et al, 2016 ). Although Australia is currently rabies‐free, bat lyssavirus has been identified in all four species of Australian fruit bats and one species of insectivorous microbat (Merritt et al, 2018 ). A study on bat handling habits in 185 UK bat carers showed that only 16.7% of them always wore gloves and 68.8% had been bitten by a bat previously (Morris et al, 2007 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…exposures to Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) were the result of human-initiated contact by professional or volunteer bat carers (McCall et al, 2000). ABLV infection could lead to sensorineural dysfunction that deteriorates into hyperactivity, hydrophobia, and convulsions, and progresses to death eventually (Merritt et al, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Immune response after rabies pre‐exposure prophylaxis and a booster dose in Australian bat carers

Guo

Mills²,

Lau

et al. 2023

Zoonoses and Public Health

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Periodic vaccination against rabies is essential for individuals at continuing risk of rabies exposure. There is limited evidence on long‐term immunogenicity after a 3‐dose intramuscular (3IM) pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and single IM booster dose, thus current guideline recommendations differ in the interval for serology tests following PrEP and boosters. This study investigated post‐PrEP and post‐booster persistence of antibodies in Australian bat carers. Bat carers who received 3IM PrEP/booster doses and had post‐PrEP/booster serology test results were included. The proportion of antibody‐negative (<0.5 EU/mL) individuals after PrEP/booster dose were examined. Three hundred and five participants (65.6% females, median age at PrEP 43.1 years) were included. The proportion who were antibody‐negative varied depending on the time between 3IM PrEP and the serology test: 8.0% <1 year, 29.8% 1–2 years, 21.2% 2–3 years and 7.7% >3 years. Ninety‐one participants receiving booster doses were further assessed. Only one participant was antibody‐negative at >3 years after receiving one IM booster dose. Our findings support that a serology test should be performed 1 year after 3IM PrEP, followed by first booster if required. Rabies antibodies persist for many years after receiving the booster doses. The interval between subsequent serology tests and the first booster dose should be no longer than 3 years. Future studies are required to provide more insight into the most appropriate timing of subsequent boosters.

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“…As a result, testing of bats is biased towards those more likely to be infected, resulting in an overestimate of the prevalence of ABLV. However, it has been estimated that less than 1% of healthy, wild flying foxes (a type of large bat) and insectivorous bats and 5%–10% of sick, injured or orphaned bats in Queensland, Australia, are infected with ABLV (Field, 2004; McCall et al., 2000; Merritt et al., 2018; Warrilow et al., 2003). A recent publication reported that in 2017 in Australia, 28 bats (6.7% of all those tested) were found to have ABLV infection, and 19 of these were bats found in Queensland (Wildlife Health Australia, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of focus areas for Australian Bat Lyssavirus potential exposure prevention in the Metro North Hospital and Health Service region

May

Mann

Francis

et al. 2020

Zoonoses and Public Health

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Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABLV) is a fatal rabies‐like disease spread to humans from bats. All people who report bat bites or scratches in Queensland are considered potentially exposed to ABLV and are followed up and treated to prevent ABLV. Preventing members of the public intentionally interacting with bats will reduce the number of potential exposures to ABLV. In order to target public health messaging, this study examines the epidemiology of potential ABLV exposures in Metro North Hospital and Health Service (HHS), a region of Queensland that encompasses metro and rural areas in the south‐east of the state. People who intentionally handled bats during the study period were more likely to be adult (93%), male (60%), scratched (51%) by a megabat (72%) and been potentially exposed while rescuing the bat when it was trapped or injured (72%). The number of potential exposures reported in Queensland has increased since 2013; the same year, a Queensland child died of ABLV. Seasonally, exposures are more common during bat breeding and nursing periods when bats are more active (summer to autumn). Although there were more notifications in a band stretching north from the inner city to northern metro suburbs, notification rates were higher in large rural statistical areas in the north of the HHS. These data will be used to develop geographically targeted ABLV prevention messaging for the general public.

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Australian bat lyssavirus

Cited by 13 publications

References 6 publications

Structural Determination of the Australian Bat Lyssavirus Nucleoprotein and Phosphoprotein Complex

Structural Determination of the Australian Bat Lyssavirus Nucleoprotein and Phosphoprotein Complex

Immune response after rabies pre‐exposure prophylaxis and a booster dose in Australian bat carers

Identification of focus areas for Australian Bat Lyssavirus potential exposure prevention in the Metro North Hospital and Health Service region

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