ABSTRACT. A molecular epidemiological analysis was performed in 19 rabies viruses (RVs) isolated from haematophagous, frugivorous and insectivorous bats, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The authors carried out RT-PCR for amplification of the RV nucleoprotein (N) gene, and determined 1,335 nucleotide sequences of N gene by direct sequencing method. Phylogenetic analysis, which was based on the N gene of Brazilian RV isolates identified presently and previously, revealed that RVs isolated from bats were genetically divided into four lineages had a tendency to depend on the host bat species. Rabies viruses (RVs) isolated in Brazil belong to genotype 1 of genus lyssavirus, family Rhabdoviridae. Ito et al. [7,8] reported that main reservoirs of RVs were dogs and vampire bats and that the RVs were classified into dogrelated RVs and vampire bat-related RVs in Brazil. In some areas of Brazil, the rabies outbreaks by both dog-and batrelated RVs occurred at the same time [7]. RVs have been isolated from not only haematophagous bats but also frugivorous and insectivorous bats in Brazil. In Argentina, RVs isolated from frugivorous bats (Artibeus lituratus) were identified to be the variant of RV associated with haematophagous bats by use of the monoclonal antibody panels [4]. Recently we have demonstrated that RVs isolated from Brazilian frugivorous bats (Artibeus spp.) were phylogenetically characterized as the vampire bat-related RV [18].There are many reports of human cases on infection with insectivorous bat RVs, and the number of the cases tend to increase in North America [10][11][12]. In 2002, Favi et al. [5] reported that insectivorous bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) RV variant was isolated from a human patient in Chile. In Colombia and Venezuela insectivorous bat RV variants were also isolated from dogs and cats, which were main RVtransmitters to human [2,14]. Although some kinds of insectivorous bats have been diagnosed as RV-positive in Brazil, there have been no reports of the human case on infection with insectivorous bat RV variants until now. RVpositive insectivorous bats were, however, found in urban areas, and this fact has been considered as important problems in public health [1,6,17,21].As there is little information about the genetic characteristics of bat-related RVs in Brazil, authors determined nucleotide sequences on the N gene of RVs isolated from 9 Brazilian bat species. Phylogenetic analysis was also performed for the epidemiological study with the isolates identified previously. MATERIALS AND METHODS Viruses:In this study, 19 RVs were isolated from 3 haematophagous bats (Desmodus rotundus), 1 frugivorous bat (Artibeus lituratus), 13 insectivorous bats (3 Nyctinomops laticaudatus, 2 Eumops auripendulus, 4 Eptesicus furinalis, 2 Molossus molossus, 1 Molossus abrasus and 1 Molossus rufus) and 2 unclassified bats, and their nucleoprotein gene sequences were determined. Brain materials from these bats were diagnosed as RV-positive by immunofluorescent antibody test (FAT) using a rabbit polyclonal anti-rabies nucle...

ABSTRACT. Seventy-seven rabies virus (RV) isolates originating from Brazilian cattle were genetically characterized. Partial nucleoprotein gene sequences of these isolates were phylogenetically and geographically analyzed. Cattle isolates, which clustered with the vampire bat-related RV group, were further subdivided into nine genetic subgroups. These subgroups were distributed widely in lowland regions, with some subgroups separated from each other by mountain ranges. In addition, separation of the groups in mountainous regions was correlated with altitude. These results indicate that cattle rabies is derived from several regionally-defined variants, which suggests that its geographical distribution is related to that of the vampire bat population. KEY WORDS: cattle, geographical analysis, rabies.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 68(10): 1097-1100, 2006 The rabies virus (RV), which belongs to genotype 1 of the Lyssavirus genus within the Rhabdoviridae family, has an almost global distribution throughout the world. The principal RV reservoirs are known to differ between regions in the areas where the virus occurs, and dogs and vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) are the major known RV vectors in Brazil. Vampire bats, which are widely distributed in Latin America, transmit RV to herbivore species and are recognized as an important RV vector in herbivore rabies [2,3,10]. Vampire bats live in small colonies of 10 to 300 animals and range within an area of activity of between 10 and 20 km 2 [2,14]. During the period of [1993][1994][1995][1996][1997][1998][1999][2000][2001][2002] 31,187 cases of cattle rabies were reported in Latin America, and vampire bat-transmitted RVs have had an economic impact in the livestock industry [4,10]. In this study, to define the epidemiological characteristics of vampire bat-transmitted rabies, we performed a phylogenetic analysis and related the findings to the geographical distribution of 86 vampire bat-transmitted RV isolates from cattle in several states in Brazil.Seventy-seven of the RV isolates were collected from cattle in the city of Brasília, the Federal District, and the states of Goiás, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Pará, São Paulo, and Tocantins between 1998 and 2003 (Table 1). Additionally, nine isolates were collected from cattle (BRbv30, 32, 36, 38, 39, 43, 45, 49, and 50), eight isolates were collected from vampire bats (BRvmbt33, 34, 41, 46 and 47, and BR-DR1-3), and two isolates were collected from dogs (BRdg10 and 12) as described previously [7,8]. All cattle isolates were identified as vampire bat-related RV by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Viral RNA was extracted from the brains of cattle diagnosed as RV positive by both the direct fluorescence antibody test [5] and the mouse inoculation test [9]. RT-PCR was used to amplify nucleoprotein (N) gene sequences of the Brazilian RV strain as described previously [8] using P1/P2 primer pairs. Sequencing was performed using the methods described in our previous study [8]. The 203 nucleotide sequences corresponding ...

A raiva é uma zoonose viral, que acomete o Sistema Nervoso Central, de evolução aguda e quase sempre fatal. Através das notificações enviadas à SES-MT (Secretaria de Estado de Saúde de Mato Grosso), foi realizado um mapeamento dos casos positivos de raiva nas diferentes espécies, que ocorreram no período de 2002 a 2011 no Estado de Mato Grosso. Foram diagnosticados 915 casos de raiva no estado durante esse período. Animais de diferentes espécies foram acometidos pela enfermidade. A espécie bovina foi notadamente a mais notificada com 80,00% (736) dos casos, seguida pela canina com 12,56% (115), a equina 5,57% (51), a quiróptera 0,65% (6), felina, suína, ovina e muar com 0,21%, (2, 2, 2, 3) casos, e as espécies caprina e primata com 0,1% (1) cada uma. No entanto, houve uma redução significativa no número de casos caninos no decorrer dos anos, com ausência de notificações a partir do ano de 2008. Nesse sentido, foi possível observar que diferentes espécies foram acometidas, evidenciando a circulação viral no Estado de Mato Grosso.

RESUMO Um levantamento epidemiológico de todos os casos de raiva bovina ocorridos no Estado de Mato Grosso durante os anos de 1996 a 2006 foi realizado pela análise da curva epidêmica, por meio do cálculo do somatório, média, desvio padrão, valores máximos e mínimos da ocorrência de casos de raiva nos três ecossistemas; análise estatística entre o efetivo bovino nos três biomas do estado e o número de casos de raiva bovina; a distribuição sazonal e a situação da doença no estado em relação ao panorama nacional. Para organização dos dados, levou-se em consideração o mês e o ano de ocorrência da raiva e a região geográfica de origem do material. Os diferentes municípios envolvidos foram classificados conforme sua localização nas regiões de Cerrado, Pantanal e Amazônia. Constatou-se que a variação no número de casos positivos da enfermidade tem sido crescente nos últimos anos, sendo que o maior número de casos deu-se no bioma Cerrado, que apresentou uma tendência de aumento anual. A partir do ano de 2004, o ecossistema Cerrado passou da situação de enzootia para epizootia, ficando pois, evidente que o principal problema de raiva em bovinos no Estado de Mato Grosso está situado no bioma Cerrado.

RESUMO Foram caracterizados, geneticamente e geograficamente, o sequenciamento parcial da nucleoproteína (gene N) de 53 isolados do vírus da raiva (VR) originários do Estado de Mato Grosso, Brasil. Os isolados de bovinos, que se encontravam no grupo do VR relacionado a morcegos hematófagos, foram posteriormente subdivididos em sete subgrupos genéticos. Estes subgrupos foram distribuídos em regiões de terras planas, com alguns subgrupos separados por formações de pequenas montanhas e hidrografia. Estes resultados indicam que a raiva em bovinos é derivada de diversas variantes regionalmente definidas, o que sugere que sua distribuição geográfica está relacionada as populações de morcegos hematófagos.