Serological evidence of infection of Tacaribe virus and arboviruses in Trinidadian bats

Abstract

Sera from 39 species of bats collected in Trinidad between 1972 and 1974 were tested against some or all of 18 arboviruses in hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and/or suckling mouse neutralization (N) tests. A few sera were HI-positive with Mucambo, eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), Oriboca, Restan, Manzanilla, Guama, Bimiti, and Catu. No sera were HI-positive with Mayaro, Caraparu or Maguari. Many ser inhibited one or more of the group B hemagglutinins: Ilheus, St. Louis encephalitis (SLE), dengue 2, and yellow fever (YF), positives occurred in nearly every species of bat, being most frequent with Ilheus. In N tests, a few or single sera were found to protect against Ilheus, Nepuyo, Guama, Bimiti, and Cocal, while none protected against EEE, SLE, YF or Catu. Many sera positive in HI test with Ilheus, SLE or YF failed to neutralize the respective virus. Tacaribe neutralizing antibody was demonstrated in Artibeus jamaicensis and A. lituratus, the sources of past virus isolation, in the fruit bats Sturnira lilium and Vampyrops helleri, and in the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus. Sera from 19 other species gave either negative or inconclusive results. No convincing evidence of Tacaribe antibody was found in 29 human sera, 20 from bat collectors.