Experimental infection of < i > Artibeus lituratus < /i > bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guiana, Peru, and Costa Rica suggests a limited role of bats in Zika transmission

by Alvaro Aguilar-Seti én, Mónica Salas-Rojas, Guillermo Gálvez-Romero, Cenia Almazán-Marín, Andrés Moreira-Soto, Jorge Alfonso-Toledo, Cirani Obregón-Morales, Martha García-Flores, Anahí García-Baltazar, Jordi Serra-Cobo, Marc López-Roig, Nora Reyes-Puma, Marta Piche-Ovares, Mario Romero-Vega, Daniel Felipe Ba rrantes Murillo, Claudio Soto-Garita, Alejandro Alfaro-Alarcón, Eugenia Corrales-Aguilar, Osvaldo López-Díaz, Dominique Pontier, Ondine Filippi-Codaccioni, Jean-Baptiste Pons, Jeanne Duhayer, Jan Felix Drexler Bats are important natural reservoir hosts of a diverse range of viruses that can be transmitted to humans and have been suggested to play an important role in the Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission cycle. However, the exact role of these animals as reservoirs for flaviviruses is still controversial. To further expand our understanding of the role of bats in the ZIKV transmission cycle in Latin America, we carried out an experimental infection in wild-caughtArtibeus lituratus bats and sampled several free-living neotropical bats across three countries of the region. Experimental ZIKV infection was performed in wild-caught adult bats (4 females and 5 males). The most relevant findings were hemorrhages in the bladder, stomach and patagium. Significant histological findings included inflammatory infiltrate consisting of a predominance of neutrophils and lymphocytes, in addition to degeneration in the reproductive tract of males and females. This suggests ...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research