Street rabies virus strains associated with insectivorous bats are less pathogenic than strains isolated from other reservoirs

Publication date: Available online 26 October 2018Source: Antiviral ResearchAuthor(s): Natalia Langenfeld Fuoco, Elaine Raniero Fernandes, Sandriana dos Ramos Silva, Fernanda Guedes Luiz, Orlando Garcia Ribeiro, Iana Suly Santos KatzAbstractRabies is a fatal and viral zoonosis that causes acute, progressive encephalitis and remains an important concern in public health. In the last few years, there has been a change in the epidemiological profile of rabies after implementing canine rabies control in the Americas, which has led to a significant increase in both human and pet cases of rabies associated with insectivorous bats. Thus, it is important to understand the pathogenesis caused by Rabies virus (RABV) isolates from insectivorous bats. Viral growth kinetics, cell-to-cell spread and virus uptake in vitro were analyzed for RABV isolates from Eptesicus furiralis and Myotis nigricans. For pathogenesis evaluation, mice were inoculated with RABV isolates from Eptesicus furiralis and Myotis nigricans, and clinical signs were observed for 40 days. We observed that the insectivorous bat strains showed a higher replication rate, faster cell-to-cell spread and delayed virus uptake in N2a cells. Furthermore, after the first sign of a clinical infection, mice infected with Myotis nigricans and Eptesicus furiralis isolates succumbed rapidly (6 ± 9 days) compared with RABV strains associated with other reservoirs. Our results show that the insectivorous bat RABV strains are less pa...
Source: Antiviral Therapy - Category: Virology Source Type: research