Search

Bats play a significant role in maintaining their ecosystems through pollination, dispersal of seeds, and control of insect populations, but they are also known to host many microorganisms and have been described as natural reservoirs for viruses with zoonotic potential. The diversity of viruses in these animals remains largely unknown, however, because studies are limited by species, location, virus target, or sample type. Therefore, the aim of this study was to detect fragments of viral genomes in bat samples. We performed high-throughput sequencing analysis and specific PCR and RT-PCR on pools of anal and oropharyngeal swabs from Artibeus lituratus and Sturnira lilium collected in southern Brazil. As a result, a member of the family Adenoviridae related to human adenovirus C was detected in anal swabs from S. lilium. In addition, we detected a papillomavirus in an anal swab from A. lituratus. Our analyses also allowed the detection of adenoviruses and parvoviruses in oropharyngeal swabs collected from A. lituratus. These results increase our knowledge about viral diversity and illustrate the importance of conducting virus surveillance in bats.

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.