From dogs to bats: Concerns regarding vampire bat-borne rabies in Brazil

• Published in: PLoS neglected tropical diseases Vol. 16; no. 3; p. e0010160
• Main Authors: Horta, Marco Aurélio, Ledesma, Leandro Augusto, Moura, Wlamir Correa, Lemos, Elba Regina Sampaio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01-03-2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animal bites; Animals; Bats; Biology and Life Sciences; Brazil - epidemiology; Cattle; Chiroptera; Coronaviruses; Diagnosis; Disease prevention; Diseases; Dogs; Drought; Droughts; Dry season; Earth Sciences; Epidemics; Food sources; Health surveillance; Land use; Lyssavirus; Medicine and Health Sciences; People and places; Phylogeny; Population; Population density; Rabies; Rabies - epidemiology; Rabies - veterinary; Rabies virus; Risk factors; Roosts; Starvation; Surveillance; Survival; Transmission; Tropical diseases; Vaccination; Vaccines; Viewpoints; Viruses; Zoonoses; Brazil; United States > US
• ISSN: 1935-2735; 1935-2727; 1935-2735
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010160

Furthermore, the World Health Organization has implemented the global strategic plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030, focusing on the regional goal of eliminating rabies by strengthening programs to improve their surveillance and vaccination coverage for dogs in the areas most at risk [6]. To confirm the actual role of bats in rabies transmission, in 24.0% (N = 150) of human rabies cases confirmed between 2000 and 2017, the most common viral variant was AgV3 (from D. rotundus bats), also found in 3 transmissions by cats, followed by AgV2 (Canis lupus), AgVnC (Callithrix jacchus), and AgV1 (C. lupus) [9]. Human rabies cases following exposure to dogs, cats, bats, and other wild carnivore host species in Brazil. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010160.g001 As part of the land-use changes, although canine rabies is successfully controlled in Brazil, bovine conditions are still endemic in many regions of the country. In the past decades, the movement of the animals during the dry season in the Brazilian Northeastern region, where it is common to transport cattle to a different region to save them from drought and starvation, accounted for the occurrence of human outbreaks since vampire bats were forced to find another source of food, including human beings [18]. Because D. rotundus is becoming relatively common in regions with large herds of domestic cattle, which may result in an increase in survival rates and population density, especially in areas where appropriate roosts are available, the bovine serves as sentinels for those regions that have the rabies virus circulating [11].