Search

Rabies is a fatal neurologic disease caused by lyssavirus infection. People are infected through contact with infected animals. The relative increase of human rabies acquired from bats calls for a better understanding of lyssavirus infections in their natural hosts. So far, there is no experimental model that mimics natural lyssavirus infection in the reservoir bat species. Lagos bat virus is a lyssavirus that is endemic in straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) in Africa. Here we compared the susceptibility of these bats to three strains of Lagos bat virus (from Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana) by intracranial inoculation. To allow comparison between strains, we ensured the same titer of virus was inoculated in the same location of the brain of each bat. All bats (n = 3 per strain) were infected, and developed neurological signs, and fatal meningoencephalitis with lyssavirus antigen expression in neurons. There were three main differences among the groups. First, time to death was substantially shorter in the Senegal and Ghana groups (4 to 6 days) than in the Nigeria group (8 days). Second, each virus strain produced a distinct clinical syndrome. Third, the spread of virus to peripheral tissues, tested by hemi-nested reverse transcriptase PCR, was frequent (3 of 3 bats) and widespread (8 to 10 tissues positive of 11 tissues examined) in the Ghana group, was frequent and less widespread in the Senegal group (3/3 bats, 3 to 6 tissues positive), and was rare and restricted in the Nigeria group (1/3 bats, 2 tissues positive). Centrifugal spread of virus from brain to tissue of excretion in the oral cavity is required to enable lyssavirus transmission. Therefore, the Senegal and Ghana strains seem most suitable for further pathogenesis, and for transmission, studies in the straw-colored fruit bat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabies virus kills tens of thousands of people globally each year, especially in resource-limited countries. Yet, there are genetically- and antigenically-related lyssaviruses, all capable of causing the disease rabies, circulating globally among bats without causing conspicuous disease outbreaks. The species richness and greater genetic diversity of African lyssaviruses, along with the lack of antibody cross-reactivity among them, has led to the hypothesis that Africa is the origin of lyssaviruses. This hypothesis was tested using a probabilistic phylogeographical approach. The nucleoprotein gene sequences from 153 representatives of 16 lyssavirus species, collected between 1956 and 2015, were used to develop a phylogenetic tree which incorporated relevant geographic and temporal data relating to the viruses. In addition, complete genome sequences from all 16 (putative) species were analysed. The most probable ancestral distribution for the internal nodes was inferred using three different approaches and was confirmed by analysis of complete genomes. These results support a Palearctic origin for lyssaviruses (posterior probability = 0.85), challenging the ‘out of Africa’ hypothesis, and suggest three independent transmission events to the Afrotropical region, representing the three phylogroups that form the three major lyssavirus clades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) belongs to the genus Lyssavirus which also includes classic rabies virus and the European lyssaviruses. To date, the only three known human ABLV cases, all fatal, have been reported from Queensland, Australia. ABLV is widely distributed in Australian bats, and any bite or scratch from an Australian bat is considered a potential exposure to ABLV. Methodology/Principal Findings: Potential exposure to ABLV has been a notifiable condition in Queensland since 2005. We analysed notification data for potential exposures occurring between 2009 and 2014. There were 1,515 potential exposures to ABLV notified in Queensland, with an average annual notification rate of 5.6 per 100,000 population per year. The majority of notified individuals (96%) were potentially exposed to ABLV via bats, with a small number of cases potentially exposed via two ABLV infected horses and an ABLV infected human. The most common routes of potential exposure were through bat scratches (47%) or bites (37%), with less common routes being mucous membrane/broken skin exposure to bat saliva/brain tissue (2.2%). Intentional handling of bats by the general public was the major cause of potential exposures (56% of notifications). Examples of these potential exposures included people attempting to rescue bats caught in barbed wire fences/fruit tree netting, or attempting to remove bats from a home. Following potential exposures, 1,399 cases (92%) were recorded as having appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) as defined in national guidelines, with the remainder having documentation of refusal or incomplete PEP. Up to a quarter of notifications occurred after two days from the potential exposure, but with some delays being more than three weeks. Of 393 bats available for testing during the reporting period, 20 (5.1%) had ABLV detected, including four species of megabats (all flying foxes) and one species of microbats (yellow-bellied sheathtail bat). Conclusions/Significance: Public health strategies should address the strong motivation of some members of the public to help injured bats or bats in distress, by emphasising that their action may harm the bat and put themselves at risk of the fatal ABLV infection. Alternative messaging should include seeking advice from professional animal rescue groups, or in the event of human contact, public health units. Further efforts are required to ensure that when potential exposure occurs, timely reporting and appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the research study on the development of a treatment for patients with transmitted rabies virus from common vampire bats in the rural village of Yupicusa in Amazon. An overview on the epidemic outbreaks concerning on vampire bats rabies in the village is explored. The author also recommends the new and creative approaches to address the problems of vampire bat-transmitted rabies which focuses on bats feeding behavior, ecological change and rabies outbreaks.

The article presents a case study of a 34-year-old Dutch woman with rabies due to Duvenhage virus from a bat in Kenya. It states that the woman got small superficial bleeding wounds on the right side of her nose after a bat flew against her face. It mentions that the woman suffered difficulty with speech and swallowing and vomiting. It adds that the woman was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin as for Guillain-Barre' syndrome (GBS) and with acyclovir as for herpes simplex encephalitis.

A correction to the article "Leishmania (L.) mexicana Infected Bats in Mexico: Novel Potential Reservoirs" that was published in the 2015 issue is presented.

In this article, the author discusses the failure for the intervention against clinical rabies. The author refers the case of a physician from the Netherlands who suffered a tragic death due to Duvenhage virus from bat in Kenya which stress the importance of primary vaccination to travelers abroad. He states that new paradigms are needed for the experimental development of biologics against rabies.