Naturally Acquired Rabies in White-Eared Opossum, Brazil

Abstract

Opossums are considered resistant to rabies. Nonhematophagous bats are reservoirs of rabies in urban areas of South America. We analyzed bats and opossums tested for rabies during 2021 in a highly urbanized city in Brazil to understand spillover in an urban setting. Wildlife surveillance is necessary to prevent rabies in humans and domestic animals.

Keywords: Artibeus spp.; Brazil; Didelphis albiventris; Lyssavirus; South America; infectious diseases; marsupials; opossum; rabies; viruses.

Figure 1

Rabies virus G gene phylogenetic tree showing specific clusters for different genera of bats in Brazil and dog-related samples in study of naturally acquired rabies in a white-eared opossum, Brazil (red text). The phylogeny was reconstructed by maximum-likelihood estimation from nucleotide sequences. Bootstrap values of >50% are depicted (1,000 bootstrap replicates). CVS corresponds to a fixed strain of the rabies virus. European bat lyssavirus-1 was used as an outgroup. The tree was visualized using iTOL version 6 (6). GenBank accession numbers are provided for reference sequences.

Figure 2

Kernel density map of concentration of Artibeus spp. bats in study of naturally acquired rabies in a white-eared opossum, Brazil. The kernel concentration layer of Artibeus is overlapped by layers of high concentration of Eptesicus, Myotis, and Tadarida spp. The opossum was found in a vegetated area with a high concentration of Artibeus spp. bats.