Passive surveillance of United Kingdom bats for lyssaviruses (2005–2015)

Abstract

Passive surveillance for lyssaviruses in UK bats has been ongoing since 1987 and has identified 13 cases of EBLV-2 from a single species; Myotis daubentonii. No other lyssavirus species has been detected. Between 2005 and 2015, 10 656 bats were submitted, representing 18 species, creating a spatially and temporally uneven sample of British bat fauna. Uniquely, three UK cases originate from a roost at Stokesay Castle in Shropshire, England, where daily checks for grounded and dead bats are undertaken and bat carcasses have been submitted for testing since 2007. Twenty per cent of Daubenton's bats submitted from Stokesay Castle since surveillance began, have tested positive for EBLV-2. Phylogenetic analysis reveals geographical clustering of UK viruses. Isolates from Stokesay Castle are more closely related to one another than to viruses from other regions. Daubenton's bats from Stokesay Castle represent a unique opportunity to study a natural population that appears to maintain EBLV-2 infection and may represent endemic infection at this site. Although the risk to public health from EBLV-2 is low, consequences of infection are severe and effective communication on the need for prompt post-exposure prophylaxis for anyone that has been bitten by a bat is essential.

Circumstances of Human–Bat interactions and risk of lyssavirus transmission in metropolitan France

“…Lyssavirus species identified in our study and geographical distribution of lyssavirus‐positive bats were consistent with previous studies (Picard‐Meyer et al., 2014; Troupin et al., 2017). The rate of positivity, however, was higher in our work with 4% of tested bats positive for a lyssavirus: Picard‐Meyer et al., (2014) reported 48 (1.96%) positive bats among 2,447 analysed in France between 1989 and 2013; Schatz et al., (2014) diagnosed 56 (1.18%) positive bats among 4,760 tested specimens in Germany from 1998 to 2013; whereas in the United Kingdom, Wise et al., (2017) noted only 9 (0.1%) positive bats among 6,891 tested between 2005 and 2015. The higher proportion of positive bats in our study could be explained by the fact that we tested only bats responsible for human exposure whereas the other studies mainly included bats with no human contact.…”

Between roost contact is essential for maintenance of European bat lyssavirus type-2 in Myotis daubentonii bat reservoir: ‘The Swarming Hypothesis’

“…This maintenance of infection in the absence of significant observed disease or mortality needed to be investigated to fully understand the public health implications. A proportion of the human population and domestic animals come into contact with bats, and the risk posed by healthy bats is unknown 44 . The traditional models of rabies pathogenesis include a variable incubation period, followed by a single short symptomatic infectious period, and death 45 .…”

The Daubenton’s Bat (Myotis daubentonii, Kuhl, 1817) and Its Role as a Reservoir for Europe Bat Lyssavirus Type-2

“…Subsequent surveillance in Daubenton's bat colonies in England found similar seroprevalence levels [38] suggesting that the virus affects bat populations across the country. This is supported by population genetic analysis of English Daubenton's bats [22] and the detection of EBLV-2 infected bats from locations across England, Scotland and Wales [39]. One location where EBLV-2 infected bats have been repeatedly detected is Stokesay Castle in Shropshire [40].…”