Host immunity to repeated rabies virus infection in big brown bats

Abstract

Bats are natural reservoirs for the majority of lyssaviruses globally, and are unique among mammals in having exceptional sociality and longevity. Given these facets, and the recognized status of bats as reservoirs for rabies viruses (RABVs) in the Americas, individual bats may experience repeated exposure to RABV during their lifetime. Nevertheless, little information exists with regard to within-host infection dynamics and the role of immunological memory that may result from abortive RABV infection in bats. In this study, a cohort of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) was infected intramuscularly in the left and right masseter muscles with varying doses [10(-0.1)-10(4.9) median mouse intracerebral lethal doses (MICLD(50))] of an E. fuscus RABV variant isolated from a naturally infected big brown bat. Surviving bats were infected a second time at 175 days post-(primary) infection with a dose (10(3.9)-10(4.9) MICLD(50)) of the same RABV variant. Surviving bats were infected a third time at either 175 or 305 days post-(secondary) infection with a dose (10(4.9) MICLD(50)) of the same RABV variant. When correcting for dose, similar mortality was observed following primary and secondary infection, but reduced mortality was observed following the third and last RABV challenge, despite infection with a high viral dose. Inducible RABV-neutralizing antibody titres post-infection were ephemeral among infected individuals, and dropped below levels of detection in several bats between subsequent infections. These results suggest that long-term repeated infection of bats may confer significant immunological memory and reduced susceptibility to RABV infection.

Fig. 1.

Cumulative survivorship of bats in the primary infection (solid line, ▪), secondary infection (dashed line; ▴) and tertiary infection (dotted line; •). Survivorship of bats in the primary infection from higher doses only (10^3.9–10^4.9 MICLD₅₀) is also shown (□).