Rabies virus distribution in tissues and molecular characterization of strains from naturally infected non-hematophagous bats

Abstract

Bats are main reservoirs for Lyssavirus worldwide, which is an important public health issue because it constitutes one of the big challenges in rabies control. Yet, little is known about how the virus is maintained among bats, and the epidemiological relationships remain poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the distribution of the rabies virus (RABV) in bat tissues and organs and to genetically characterize virus isolates from naturally infected non-hematophagous bats. The heminested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (hnRT-PCR) and sequencing using primers to the nucleoprotein coding gene were performed. The results showed a dissemination of the RABV in different tissues and organs, particularly in the salivary glands, tongue, lungs, kidneys, bladder, intestine and feces, suggesting other possible forms of RABV elimination and the possibility of transmission among these animals. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed that different variants of RABV are maintained by non-hematophagous bats in nature and have similar tissue distribution irrespective of bat species and phylogenetic characterization.

Chiroptera

“…Prevalence is much higher in sick bats, with estimates ranging from 10% to 92% of grounded Tadarida brasiliensis (Constantine, 1993;Davis et al, 2012). A high seroprevalence rate has been detected in apparently healthy bats, suggesting that they may be able to survive infection (Allendorf et al, 2012). Bats typically undergo a 2-25 week incubation period, although prolonged incubation of over 1 year has been reported (Brass, 1994).…”

“…In one study of bats infected with Australian bat lyssavirus, the highest frequency and severity of microscopic lesions was detected in the hippocampus, thalamus and midbrain, and medulla oblongata and pons (Hooper et al, 1999). Lyssaviral antigen has been detected in bats in the central and peripheral nervous system as well as in other tissues; reported affected sites include brainstem, cerebellar Purkinje cells, hippocampus, cerebrum, thalamus and midbrain, peripheral autonomic ganglia, nerve plexuses of the gastrointestinal tract, intramuscular nervous tissue, adrenal medulla, salivary gland, tongue, brown fat, lung, heart, kidney, bladder, stomach, intestine, and feces (Allendorf et al, 2012;Davis et al, 2013;de Araújo et al, 2014;Hooper et al, 1999;Schatz et al, 2014;Stein et al, 2010).…”

Clinical relevance of molecular identification of microorganisms and detection of antimicrobial resistance genes in bloodstream infections of paediatric cancer patients

“…Resistance to vancomycin among enterococci has emerged as a general problem and is now found in patients with FN [25]. We found that 5 % of BSIs were due to Enterococcus spp., and 50 % were VRE.…”

Bat Reservoirs for Rabies Virus and Epidemiology of Rabies in Colombia: a review

“…Given these features and the recognized status of bats as reservoirs for RABVs in the Americas, individual bats may experience repeated exposure to RABV during their lifetime 22 . Hematophagous, frugivorous, and insectivorous bats can transmit http://dx.doi.org/10.21615/cesmvz.12.2.5 the RABV 23 , and phylogenetic analysis using nucleotide sequences of N or G genes revealed that RABV is grouped into clusters according to the bat species that support the existence of species-specific variants or lineages of the virus 19,24 .…”

“…The virus was detected in tongue (92 % and 85 %), brown fat (82 % and 77 %), lung (62 % and 77 %), heart (42 % and 77%), stomach (92 % and 64 %), liver (38 % and 67 %), spleen (43 % and 27 %), bladder (73 % and 88 %), kidney (77 % and 38 %), intestine tissues (77 % and 38 %), and feces (38 % and 42 %) from frugivorous and insectivorous bats. It was noted that the virus was higher in stomachs of frugivorous bats than from insectivorous bats 19 . A possible reason for those findings could be that infected bats defecate on the fruits that are eaten later by frugivorous bats, which ingest the virus.…”