Rabies and Related Lyssaviruses

Temporal patterns of vampire bat rabies and host connectivity in Belize

“…Rabies is an acute, highly lethal encephalitis caused by viruses in the family Rhabdoviridae , genus Lyssavirus (Wunner & Jackson, 2010). Lyssaviruses most likely originated from bats (Order Chiroptera; Badrane & Tordo, 2001), which are now confirmed as reservoir hosts for 16 of the 18 recognized viruses (Banyard, Evans, Luo, & Fooks, 2014; Kuzmin et al., 2011; Rupprecht & Chikwamba, 2018). Rabies lyssavirus (RABV) is the most epidemiologically important and best‐studied virus in this group (Rupprecht & Chikwamba, 2018) and the only lyssavirus present in the Western Hemisphere (Rupprecht, Turmelle, & Kuzmin, 2011; Velasco‐Villa et al., 2017).…”

“…Lyssaviruses most likely originated from bats (Order Chiroptera; Badrane & Tordo, 2001), which are now confirmed as reservoir hosts for 16 of the 18 recognized viruses (Banyard, Evans, Luo, & Fooks, 2014; Kuzmin et al., 2011; Rupprecht & Chikwamba, 2018). Rabies lyssavirus (RABV) is the most epidemiologically important and best‐studied virus in this group (Rupprecht & Chikwamba, 2018) and the only lyssavirus present in the Western Hemisphere (Rupprecht, Turmelle, & Kuzmin, 2011; Velasco‐Villa et al., 2017). Although reservoir hosts in North America are dominated by insectivorous bats and wild mesocarnivores (Banyard et al., 2014; Messenger, Smith, & Rupprecht, 2002), common vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) are the primary reservoir for human and livestock rabies in the Neotropics (Schneider et al., 2009; Ulloa‐Stanojlovic & Dias, 2020).…”