Active surveillance for antibodies confirms circulation of lyssaviruses in Palearctic bats
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Active surveillance for antibodies confirms circulation of lyssaviruses in Palearctic bats Veronika Seidlova1*, Jan Zukal2,3, Jiri Brichta1, Nikolay Anisimov4, Grzegorz Apoznański5, Hana Bandouchova1, Tomáš Bartonička3, Hana Berková2, Alexander D. Botvinkin6, Tomas Heger1, Heliana Dundarova7, Tomasz Kokurewicz5, Petr Linhart1, Oleg L. Orlov4,8, Vladimir Piacek1, Primož Presetnik9, Alexandra P. Shumkina10, Mikhail P. Tiunov11, Frantisek Treml12 and Jiri Pikula1,13
Abstract Background: Palearctic bats host a diversity of lyssaviruses, though not the classical rabies virus (RABV). As surveillance for bat rabies over the Palearctic area covering Central and Eastern Europe and Siberian regions of Russia has been irregular, we lack data on geographic and seasonal patterns of the infection. Results: To address this, we undertook serological testing, using non-lethally sampled blood, on 1027 bats of 25 species in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Slovenia between 2014 and 2018. The indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detected rabies virus anti-glycoprotein antibodies in 33 bats, giving an overall seroprevalence of 3.2%. Bat species exceeding the seroconversion threshold included Myotis blythii, Myotis gracilis, Myotis petax, Myotis myotis, Murina hilgendorfi, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and Vespertilio murinus. While Myotis species (84.8%) and adult females (48.5%) dominated in seropositive bats, juveniles of both sexes showed no difference in seroprevalence. Higher numbers tested positive when sampled during the active season (10.5%), as compared with the hibernation period (0.9%). Bat rabies seroprevalence was significantly higher in natural habitats (4.0%) compared with synanthropic roosts (1.2%). Importantly, in 2018, we recorded 73.1% seroprevalence in a cave containing a M. blythii maternity colony in the Altai Krai of Russia. Conclusions: Identification of such “hotspots” of non-RABV lyssavirus circulation not only provides important information for public health protection, it can also guide research activities aimed at more in-depth bat rabies studies. Keywords: Chiroptera, rabies, blood samples, seroprevalence, Europe, Siberia
Background Lyssaviruses are zoonotic agents of rabies that cause fatal encephalomyelitis in mammals. Different bat species act as principal reservoirs for most lyssaviruses, though carnivores only host the type species rabies virus (RABV), which is responsible for the majority of human rabies * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Ecology and Diseases of Game, Fish and Bees, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackého tř. 1946/1, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
cases [1]. While dog-bite mediated rabies can be eliminated by control measures such as obligatory animal vaccination and pre- and post-exposure prophylactic treatment, an estimated 59 000 people still die annually from rabies in underdeveloped countries [2]. In both Eur
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