Isolation of rabies virus in Artibeus fimbriatus bat in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Abstracts

Descrevem-se, pela primeira vez, o isolamento e a identificação do vírus da raiva em morcego frugívoro Artibeus fimbriatus no município de São José do Rio Preto, Estado de São Paulo. O vírus foi isolado de exemplar encontrado em área urbana, caído sob uma árvore e ainda vivo. O diagnóstico foi realizado pelas técnicas de imunofluorescência direta e inoculação intracerebral em camundongos.

Vírus da raiva; Isolamento; Quirópteros; Raiva

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Isolation of rabies virus in Artibeus fimbriatus bat in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Elenice M Sequetin Cunha^I; Maria do Carmo C S H Lara^I; Alessandra Figueiredo de Castro Nassar^I; Miriam M Sodré^II; Luis Flávio Vani Amaral^III

^ICentro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de Sanidade Animal. Laboratório de Raiva e Encefalites Virais. Instituto Biológico de São Paulo. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

^IICentro de Controle de Zoonoses de São Paulo. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

^IIICentro de Controle de Zoonoses de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brasil

^{Correspondence}

ABSTRACT

This is the first report of the isolation and identification of the rabies virus in the frugivorous bat Artibeus fimbriatus in the city of Sao José do Rio Preto, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The virus was isolated from an animal found in an urban area. The animal was found on the ground under a tree, still alive. Diagnosis was made by direct immunofluorescence and intracerebral inoculation of mice.

Keywords: Rabies virus, isolation. Purification. Quiroptera. Rabies.

The formulation of control programs for rabies is directly related to the different species of animals infected by the virus and involved in the dissemination of the disease. The urban cycle of rabies, in the great majority of Brazilian cities, is still maintained by the dog, which was responsible for 80% of cases of human rabies registered between 1994 and 2003.² Nevertheless, bats also partake in the transmission of this disease, and are playing an increasingly relevant role. According to Uieda,⁴ rabies has been found in 27 bat species in Brazil, among which are both hematophagous and non-hematophagous species.

Of the bats of the Phyllostomidae family, samples of the Artibeus lituratus, A. jamaicensis, and A. planirostris species positive for rabies virus have been reported.^3,4 However, there is no prior description of the disease in bats of the Artibeus fimbriatus species.

Bats of the Artibeus fimbriatus species are found in Brazil from the Southern state of Rio Grande do Sul to the Northeastern state of Bahia, being more common in Atlantic Forest areas. This species is part of the Phyllostomidae family of frugivorous or phytophagous bats, which feed mainly on fruit, leaves, and parts of flowers. The feeding, sheltering, and reproduction habits of this species are largely unknown, differently from Artibeus lituratus, another species of the same genus, but which is common in urban areas.

The case described in this report is a male bat found alive on the foot of a Terminalia catappa (Combretaceae) fructiferous tree - popularly known in brazil as setecopas (seven crowns) or chapéu de couro (leather hat) - in the urban area of the municipality of São José do Rio Preto, State of Sao Paulo. The bat was identified by its external morphologic and morphometric characteristics (in millimeters), according to Taddei.⁵ Following identification, the specimen was deposited in the Chiropteran Sector of the Centro de Controle de Zoonoses de São Paulo (Sao Paulo Zoonosis Control Center), under registry no. 190/04.

The specimen was examined for the presence of the rabies virus by direct immunofluorescence (DIF) and by intracerebral inoculation of mice.¹

Analysis by direct immunofluorescence (DIF)¹ showed positive staining, and all six mice inoculated intracerebrally died with clinical signs of rabies within eight to ten days.

Twenty bats were captured in the municipality of São José do Rio Preto between 1998 and 2003. These bats, of urban frugivorous and insectivorous species, were diagnosed as positive for rabies, and some had a history of aggression or contact with household animals and humans.^* Artibeus fimbriatus bats have been observed feeding on Terminalia catappa fruit also in other cities of Sao Paulo. This suggests that the growing of certain vegetable species attractive to bats may determine or contribute to their permanence in these locations, favoring synanthropy and generating potential risk to human and animal health.

Thus, the present report describes the first occurrence of rabies in this species in Brazil.

REFERENCES

Received on 28/6/2004. Reviewed on 15/3/2005. Approved on 26/3/2005.

• 1. Meslin FX, Kaplan MM, Koprowsky H. Laboratory techniques in rabies. Genebra: World Health Organization; 1996.
• ²
  Organización Panamericana de la Salud. EER Noticias Semanales: Enfermidades infecciosas emergentes y reemergentes, Región de las Américas. Rabia humana transmitida por murciélagos em el estado de Pará, Brasil. Enferm Infecc Emerg Reemerg [periódico on-line] 2004;2(13):1-5. Disponível em URL: www.paho.org [2004 abr 15]
• 3. Passos EC, Carrieri ML, Silva MMS, Pereira Jr RG, Melo JATS, Maule LJ. Vírus rábico isolado de morcego frugívoro (Artibeus lituratus) capturado em 1997 no município de Rio Claro. Braz J Vet Res Anim Sci 1999;36(1):40-2.
• 4. Uieda W, Hayashi MM, Gomes LH, Silva MMS. Espécies de quirópteros diagnosticadas com raiva no Brasil. Bol Inst Pasteur 1996;1:17-35.
• 5. Taddei VA, Nobile CA, Versute EM. Distribuição geográfica e análise morfométrica comparativa em Artibeus obscurus (Schinz, 1821) e Artibeus fimbriatus Gray, 1838 (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae). Ensaio Ciênc 1998;2:71-127.

*

Sequetin Cunha EM et al. Study of the rabies virus in bats captured in north and northeast Sao Paulo State. Unpublished data from an ongoing study.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  10 Oct 2005
• Date of issue
  Aug 2005

History

• Accepted
  26 Mar 2005
• Reviewed
  15 Mar 2005
• Received
  28 June 2004