Temporal Dynamics of European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 and Survival of Myotis myotis Bats in Natural Colonies

Abstract

Many emerging RNA viruses of public health concern have recently been detected in bats. However, the dynamics of these viruses in natural bat colonies is presently unknown. Consequently, prediction of the spread of these viruses and the establishment of appropriate control measures are hindered by a lack of information. To this aim, we collected epidemiological, virological and ecological data during a twelve-year longitudinal study in two colonies of insectivorous bats (Myotis myotis) located in Spain and infected by the most common bat lyssavirus found in Europe, the European bat lyssavirus subtype 1 (EBLV-1). This active survey demonstrates that cyclic lyssavirus infections occurred with periodic oscillations in the number of susceptible, immune and infected bats. Persistence of immunity for more than one year was detected in some individuals. These data were further used to feed models to analyze the temporal dynamics of EBLV-1 and the survival rate of bats. According to these models, the infection is characterized by a predicted low basic reproductive rate (R0 = 1.706) and a short infectious period (D = 5.1 days). In contrast to observations in most non-flying animals infected with rabies, the survival model shows no variation in mortality after EBLV-1 infection of M. myotis. These findings have considerable public health implications in terms of management of colonies where lyssavirus-positive bats have been recorded and confirm the potential risk of rabies transmission to humans. A greater understanding of the dynamics of lyssavirus in bat colonies also provides a model to study how bats contribute to the maintenance and transmission of other viruses of public health concern.

Endemic Circulation of European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 in Serotine Bats, Spain

“…data). This could be the cause of the different temporal distribution of the positive results observed in each colony, which suggests a pattern of independent endemic viral circulation different from the model, based on periodic epidemic waves of fast viral spreading proposed for the mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) (12).…”

“…The analysis of body condition index as a measure of physiologic condition gives additional evidence for mild or subclinical infection in the previously described long-term survival of EBLV1 RNA or antibody-positive bats (2,4,5,12). Similar body condition values between bats with oropharyngeal swabs that were positive for the virus and those that were negative could be interpreted as a recent virus infection for which no symptoms have developed.…”

“…Despite the fact that serotine bats (E. serotinus and E. isabellinus) are the most frequently involved species in cases of bat lyssavirus exposure in humans in Europe, most published surveys of EBLV1 infection in natural bat colonies have focused on other bat species (5,12). Data from serotine bats have been obtained by either serologic or direct detection techniques but not from both (2,4), as in this report.…”

European Bat Lyssavirus Transmission among Cats, Europe

“…We report 2 documented cases of natural infection of domestic cats by EBLV-1 lyssaviruses presently circulating in European bats (2)(3)(4)(5). Our study demonstrates that subtypes EBLV-1a and EBLV-1b can cross the species barrier, although cat no.…”

Isolation of a Novel Adenovirus from <b><i>Rousettus leschenaultii</i></b> Bats from India

“…Recently, bats (order Chiroptera) have increasingly been recognized as a source of zoonoses that can cause high mortality disease in humans [1,2,3,4]. In India, the potential for spillover from bats to humans is particularly high owing to the rich level of biodiversity and the high human population density.…”