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. 2015 Jan-Feb;57(1):63-72.
doi: 10.1590/S0036-46652015000100009.

Bat-borne rabies in Latin America

Luis E Escobar  1 , A Townsend Peterson  2 , Myriam Favi  3 , Verónica Yung  3 , Gonzalo Medina-Vogel  1
Affiliations

Bat-borne rabies in Latin America

Luis E Escobar et al. Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2015 Jan-Feb.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

The situation of rabies in America is complex: rabies in dogs has decreased dramatically, but bats are increasingly recognized as natural reservoirs of other rabies variants. Here, bat species known to be rabies-positive with different antigenic variants, are summarized in relation to bat conservation status across Latin America. Rabies virus is widespread in Latin American bat species, 22.5%75 of bat species have been confirmed as rabies-positive. Most bat species found rabies positive are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as "Least Concern". According to diet type, insectivorous bats had the most species known as rabies reservoirs, while in proportion hematophagous bats were the most important. Research at coarse spatial scales must strive to understand rabies ecology; basic information on distribution and population dynamics of many Latin American and Caribbean bat species is needed; and detailed information on effects of landscape change in driving bat-borne rabies outbreaks remains unassessed. Finally, integrated approaches including public health, ecology, and conservation biology are needed to understand and prevent emergent diseases in bats.

La situación de rabia en América es compleja: la rabia en perros ha disminuido drásticamente pero los murciélagos están siendo reconocidos cada vez más como reservorios naturales de otras variantes de rabia. Aquí compilamos las especies de murciélagos reconocidas como positivas a rabia con diferentes variantes antigénicas, así como su relación con el estado de conservación de los murciélagos a lo largo de América Latina. El virus de rabia está ampliamente distribuido en las especies de murciélagos de América Latina, 22.5% (75) de las especies de murciélagos conocidas han sido confirmadas como especies positivas a rabia. La mayoría de las especies de murciélagos reportadas como positivas a rabia son clasificadas por la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza como “Preocupación Menor”. De acuerdo al tipo de dieta, los murciélagos insectívoros tuvieron la mayor cantidad de especies reconocidas como reservorio del virus rabia, mientras en proporción los hematófagos fueron los más importantes. Investigaciones a escala gruesa deben buscar entender aspectos de ecología de la rabia; es necesaria la información básica sobre la distribución y dinámica poblacional para muchas especies de murciélagos de América Latina y el Caribe; y el efecto del cambio del paisaje en la generación de brotes de rabia transmitida por murciélagos permanece sin ser evaluado. Por último, para entender y prevenir enfermedades emergentes a partir de los murciélagos es necesario un enfoque integral incluyendo salud pública, ecología y biología de la conservación.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Dog (blue line) and bat (red line) rabies cases during 2003-2013, based on samples from Latin American and Caribbean countries considered in this study. Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, French Guyana, and Haiti did not have reports for this period. Notice the linear trend (black line) for each host group. Proportion of positive bat (green dash line) and dog samples (purple dash line) is shown. Source: SIEPI-PANAFTOSA/PAHO-WHO, data available on http://siepi.panaftosa.org.br/
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Bat richness showing the number of bat species (rabies positive or not) present in Latin America (colored shading) and number of antigenic variants of bat rabies reported (gray bars).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Numbers of rabies-positive species and antigenic variants of rabies reported by country (Table 1). Ven. = Venezuela.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Conservation status for all bat species and rabies positive bat species in Latin America and the Caribbean. CR: Critically Endangered, EN: Endangered, VU: Vulnerable, NT: Near Threatened, LC: Least Concern, DD: Data Deficient.
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