Public Veterinary Medicine: Public Health Rabies virus variants identified in Nuevo Leon State, Mexico, from 2008 to 2015

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To identify rabies virus variants (RVVs) isolated from bats and terrestrial mammals in Nuevo Leon between 2008 and 2015 and Coahuila in 2006. SAMPLE RVVs isolated from 15 bats and terrestrial mammals in Nuevo Leon and from a cow (Bos taurus) in Coahuila, along with 46 reference rabies virus sequences. PROCEDURES Antigenic characterization of the 16 isolates was performed with an indirect fluorescent antibody technique. Genomic sequencing of the nucleoprotein gene in the 16 isolates was performed with a reverse transcription PCR assay. Phylogenetic reconstruction of the 62 sequences was performed by means of Bayesian inference. RESULTS 9 isolates from bats and 1 isolate from a domestic cat that became infected as a result of contact with a Mexican free-tailed bat all clustered in the lineage associated with Lasiurus spp in the Americas or the lineage associated with Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana. An isolate from a domestic dog was identified as a variant associated with the dog-coyote lineage. The RVV isolated from a fox clustered in an Arizona fox lineage. The 3 RVVs from skunks (Mephitis macroura) were placed in a lineage with variants isolated from spotted skunks (Spilogale putorius). The RVV isolated from the cow was clustered in a lineage associated with foxes in Texas and separate from the lineage for the fox from Nuevo Leon. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results reinforced the need for Mexico to implement rabies surveillance and monitoring programs for bats and wild-living terrestrial carnivores.

Descriptive and Time-Series Analysis of Rabies in Different Animal Species in Mexico

“…The distribution of vampire bat populations matches the distribution of cases in domestic and wildlife animals, where variants AgV11, AgV3, and AgV5 associated with D. rotundus have been reported (37). However, the presence of cases in wild species in non-endemic areas of Mexico is remarkable; nevertheless, the variant V8 in skunks in Chihuahua has been previously reported (38).…”

Use of partial N-gene sequences as a tool to monitor progress on rabies control and elimination efforts in Ethiopia

“…Several countries in the Americas have used the variation in partial N-gene stretches to describe RABV diversity associated with domestic and wild animals at improved resolutions not previously attained by monoclonal antibody typing ( Velasco-Villa et al, 2017 ). Over the last three decades, genetic typing with partial N-gene sequences has demonstrated not only to be a more sustainable technology to continue monitoring rabies in wildlife, but also to follow up on dog rabies elimination efforts by defining geographically circumscribed dog-maintained rabies foci ( Favoretto, et., 2006 ; Paez et al, 2007 ; Carnieli et al, 2013 ; Garces- Ayala et al, 2017 ; Jaramillo-Reyna et al, 2020 ). However, one technical limitation of this approach is that phylogenetic reconstructions depicting putative lineages show low branch support values due to a limited number of informative sites compared to the large number of sequences analyzed at once ( Guindon et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Using DNAStar Lasergene software (DNAStar, Inc., Madison, WI), complete N-gene sequences were assembled, or partial ones edited, to a 726 bp fragment at the end of the N-gene coding region (positions 695 to 1420 according to the SAD-B19 reference genome). This 726 bp portion of the N-gene is an extended version of the 320/264 bp (position 1157 to 1420 as compared with SAD-B19) sequence region extensively used in Latin American countries to identify RABV genetic variation in dogs and wildlife and to follow up on progress of dog-maintained rabies elimination in the region ( Velasco-Villa et al, 2005 ; Favoretto et al, 2007; Jaramillo-Reyna et al, 2020 ).…”