Geographical Distribution of Vampire Bat-related Cattle Rabies in Brazil

Abstract

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 ...

Assessment of Basic Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Community on Rabies and Retrospective Survey in and around Ambo Town, West Shoa Zone of Ethiopia

“…More than one-half of the 1700 agents known to infect humans were reported to have association with animals [1]. Rabies is acute fatal encephalitis that affects all mammals and is a worldwide zoonotic disease caused by rabies virus [2]. The disease is one of the longest known infectious diseases in human history [3].…”

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Effects of primovaccination and booster vaccination on serum cortisol and humoral immune response in cattle

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