First isolation of rabies virus from a Eurasian badger (Meles meles) in Inner Mongolia, China, 2024

Abstract

Rabies continues to pose a significant global zoonotic threat. In recent years, the increased spillover events of rabies viruses from wildlife to domestic animals have raised public health security concerns, prompting heightened international attention toward rabies management in wildlife populations. Our study reveals the first documented case of a rabies virus (RABV) strain isolated from Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) within Chinese ecosystems. Genetic analysis shows 99.4% nucleotide identity with dominant bovine-associated cosmopolitan lineages, offering robust evidence of interspecies transmission from wildlife reservoirs to domestic livestock. It is noteworthy that due to the special geographical location of this region, the habitat of Eurasian badgers overlaps with the territory of livestock and human settlements, thereby forming a transmission chain of rabies virus such as "fox- Eurasian badger-livestock" or "Eurasian badger-livestock." This critical finding highlights an urgent need for enhanced pathogen surveillance programs in pastoral regions where intensive human-wildlife-livestock interfaces create high-risk transmission zones.

Keywords: Eurasian badger; livestock; phylogenetic analysis; public health; rabies virus; virus isolation; zoonotic disease.

Figure 1

Identification of rabies virus in Eurasian badger. (A) Eurasian Badger carcasses. (B) Green arrows indicate congestion in brain tissue, and red arrows indicate cerebrospinal fluid accumulation. (C) Red arrows indicate scattered punctate hemorrhages in the brain parenchyma. (D) Black arrows indicate demonstrated perivascular cuffing by lymphocytes and macrophages. (E) Black arrows indicate eosinophilic Negri bodies in neuronal cytoplasm. (F,G) Black arrows indicate brownish-yellow positive signals. (H,I) Phosphate-buffered saline was used as the primary antibody, and the results showed no obvious brown positive signal.

Figure 2

Immunofluorescence analysis and Rabies Virus Isolation. (A) Green fluorescence indicates virus-infected cells. No fluorescence was detected in the control group. (B) Red arrows indicate rabies virus particles.

Figure 3

Phylogenetic analysis of the full-length genome sequence of NMMeles-1. Yellow highlighting indicates rabies virus sequences isolated from Eurasian Badger. Black arrow indicates the host of the rabies virus. Background colors indicate viruses belonging to the same coronavirus genus. Scale bar represents 0.1 substitutions per site.