Bat-transmitted human rabies outbreaks, Brazilian Amazon

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 12; no. 8; pp. 1197 - 1202
• Main Authors: da Rosa, Elizabeth S T, Kotait, Ivanete, Barbosa, Taciana F S, Carrieri, Maria L, Brandão, Paulo E, Pinheiro, Amiraldo S, Begot, Alberto L, Wada, Marcelo Y, de Oliveira, Rosely C, Grisard, Edmundo C, Ferreira, Márcia, Lima, Reynaldo J da Silva, Montebello, Lúcia, Medeiros, Daniele B A, Sousa, Rita C M, Bensabath, Gilberta, Carmo, Eduardo H, Vasconcelos, Pedro F C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01-08-2006; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Bats; Brazil; Brazil - epidemiology; Brazilian Amazon; Child; Child, Preschool; Chiroptera - virology; Diagnosis; Disease Outbreaks; Female; Health aspects; human rabies virus, bat transmission, antigenic and genetic characterization; Humans; Male; Mice; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Rabies; Rabies - epidemiology; Rabies - mortality; Rabies - transmission; Rabies - virology; Rabies virus - classification; Rabies virus - genetics; Rabies virus - isolation & purification; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Statistics; Brazil
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/eid1208.050929

We describe 2 bat-transmitted outbreaks in remote, rural areas of Portel and Viseu Municipalities, Pará State, northern Brazil. Central nervous system specimens were taken after patients' deaths and underwent immunofluorescent assay and histopathologic examination for rabies antigens; also, specimens were injected intracerebrally into suckling mice in an attempt to isolate the virus. Strains obtained were antigenically and genetically characterized. Twenty-one persons died due to paralytic rabies in the 2 municipalities. Ten rabies virus strains were isolated from human specimens; 2 other cases were diagnosed by histopathologic examination. Isolates were antigenically characterized as Desmodus rotundus variant 3 (AgV3). DNA sequencing of 6 strains showed that they were genetically close to D. rotundus-related strains isolated in Brazil. The genetic results were similar to those obtained by using monoclonal antibodies and support the conclusion that the isolates studied belong to the same rabies cycle, the virus variants found in the vampire bat D. rotundus.