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

Abstract

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease caused by a neurotropic RNA virus part of the family Rhabdoviridae. The disease is characterized by encephalitic inflammation and is responsible for a number of annual fatal deaths of people and animals in the world. Chiropters such as insectivorous, frugivorous and hematophagous bats are the major transmitters, reservoirs, and vectors of the rabies virus. In Colombia, a total of thirty-five cases of human rabies occurred between 2000 -2014. Of the thirty-five cases twenty-two were transmitted by bats. The genetic variant V3 (hematophagous bats) were responsible for 24 human deaths, while the genetic variant V4, carried by insectivorous bats, caused three human deaths. The disease is mainly linked to infected cats that may have hunted infected bats and then transmitted the virus to humans. Diagnosis is usually made by detection of the virus from infected animals and techniques such as RT-PCR, which might be used to promote active surveillance in bat populations. Rabies is a preventable disease and vaccination of pets confers protective immunity, however, vaccination coverage of pets in Colombia is still limited. This review article collects epidemiological data of rabies virus genetic variants associated with chiropters species that have been reported to transmit the virus in the world and emphasizes on rabies cases reported in Colombia during the last decades. Keywords: Chiroptera, genetic variants, Rhabdoviridae, zoonotic diseases. ResumenLa rabia es una enfermedad zoonóticas mortal causada por un virus ARN neurotrópico de la familia Rhabdoviridae. La enfermedad se caracteriza por encefalitis y es responsable de múltiples muertes anuales de personas y animales. Quirópteros insectívoros, frugívoros y hematófagos son los principales transmisores, reservorios y vectores del virus. En Colombia, un total de 35 casos de rabia humana fueron reportados entre 2000-2014, veintidós de ellos fueron transmitidos por murciélagos. La variante genéti-ca V3 (murciélagos hematófagos) fue responsable de 24 muertes humanas, mientras que la variante genética V4 (murciélagos insectívoros) causó tres muertes humanas. La enfermedad es transmitida al humano principalmente

Of love and other demons: depicting human rabies in Colombia

“…Rabies can be epidemiologically classified as urban or sylvatic rabies. Although dog-transmitted human rabies has decreased in frequency, bats are emerging as important vectors of transmission to humans [ 6 ]. Curiously, RABV transmitted by bats only occurs in the Americas [ 34 ], where, between 2005 and 2013, there were 122 cases of human rabies transmitted by hematophagous bats, with most cases reported in Peru (n = 62), followed by Brazil (n = 46) [ 35 ].…”

“…In Latin America, dog mediated and wildlife rabies is endemic [ 4 ]; 14.7% of all cases in the region correspond to Desmodus rotundus (D. rotundus) bat transmission, mostly in Peru, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, representing the second most common cause of RABV transmission [ 5 ] . In Colombia, multiple cases of cross-species transmission have been detected, for example, from 1993 to 2002 a total of 22 cases were secondary to dog transmission, one case was due to cats, and three cases were due to hematophagous bats transmission [ 5 , 6 ]. Even today, no cure has been developed, and RABV is still fatal in most cases once the clinical signs appear.…”

The microbiome of bat guano: for what is this knowledge important?

“…The causative agent of disease is the rabies virus (RABV), an RNA virus that belongs to the genus Lyssavirus within the family Rhabdoviridae. Bats are the main natural reservoirs of the rabies viruses; until now, 64 species of bats were reported positive for RABV worldwide, including insectivorous, frugivorous, and hematophagous species (Jiménez et al 2017). Bat species that can carry rabies virus can be found in South and North America, as well as in Africa, in Western and Southeastern Europe.…”

Temporal patterns of vampire bat rabies and host connectivity in Belize

“…cattle, sheep and horses) across four of its six districts (World Organization for Animal Health, 2016), and outbreaks have increased in frequency, especially since 2016 (Figure 1). RABV strains isolated from Belize livestock are the antigenic variants V-3 and V-11, both of which are vampire bat-associated variants first characterized in Mexico and Colombia (Jiménez et al, 2017;Velasco-Villa et al, 2002). Although human rabies has not been documented in Belize for over 20 years, vampire bat feeding on humans has been reported (McCarthy, 1989).…”