Frugivorous bats in the Colombian Caribbean region are reservoirs of the rabies virus

Abstract

BackgroundBats are an important ecological group within ecosystems. The rabies virus is a Lyssavirus, and haematophagous bats are the principal reservoir; however, the virus has also been detected in non-haematophagous bats. The objective was to determine the rabies virus in non-haematophagous bats in the Colombian Caribbean region.MethodsIn 2017, a cross-sectional study was carried out with a base-risk sampling in twelve geographic zones of the Colombian Caribbean area that included the main ecosystems of two departments. 286 bats were captured, which were euthanized with a pharmacological treatment following the ethical protocols of animal experimentation. The taxonomic identification was done with dichotomous keys. The necropsy was carried out at the capture site, and brain samples were kept in liquid nitrogen. The extraction of the RNA was carried out from the frozen brains with Trizol™; a fragment of 914 bp of the glycoprotein G of the rabies virus was amplified with RT-PCR. The amplicons were sequenced with the Sanger method.ResultsTwenty-three genera of bats were identified, and, in two frugivorous, Artibeus lituratus and Artibeus planirostris, amplicons were obtained and sequenced as the rabies virus.ConclusionsThis is the first evidence of natural infection of the rabies virus in frugivorous bats in the Colombian Caribbean area; this result is important for the surveillance and control of rabies.

MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV Infections in Animals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prevalence Studies

“…A 3.5% MERS CoV infection rate (n = 29; 95% CI 0-20%) in Taphozous perforatus bats is low compared with that for severe acute respiratory syndrome-like CoV in rhinolophid bats in China (10%-12.5%) but consistent with CoV prevalence among bats in Mexico (Anthony et al, 2013;Memish et al, 2013). Bats are reservoirs of several viruses that can cause human disease, including rabies, Hendra, Nipah, Marburg, severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV, Ebola, rabies, and even some arboviral diseases, such as dengue and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis viruses (Calderon, Guzman, Mattar, Rodriguez, Acosta, et al, 2019;Lau et al, 2005;W. Li et al, 2005;Memish et al, 2013;Poon et al, 2005;Smith & Wang, 2013).…”

Epidemiology and biology of a herpesvirus in rabies endemic vampire bat populations

“…1 ). Interestingly, rabies transmission has also been noted between these species and is potentially explained by their frequent ecological overlap together with their evolutionary relatedness within the family Phyllostomidae 45 , 46 . Given our low sample size for A. lituratus , further instances of cross-species transmission may be found, and this also holds true for other species of bats within Phyllostomidae that roost with D. rotundus and were poorly sampled, such as G. soricina .…”

Bats in ecosystems and their Wide spectrum of viral infectious potential threats: SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging viruses

“…A Colombian study performed on 286 brains from bats of six families and 23 species showed that two species, Artibeus lituratus and Artibeus planirostris , were positive for the rabies virus ( Calderon et al, 2019a ). Another study conducted in Chile reported that 9.5% of 15,000 bats captured were naturally infected ( Escobar et al, 2015 ).…”

“…As a consequence of the destruction of natural habitats, closer interaction between bats and humans has grown significantly, especially in mining areas ( Bonilla-Aldana et al, 2019 ). Rabies transmission primarily occurs via direct bites or scratches from infected bats ( Calderon et al, 2019a ); secondary transmissions in humans takes place through contact with infected pets. These viruses cause acute progressive encephalitis that is inevitably fatal from the onset of clinical signs.…”