(Some) Bats carry rabies. A little information for clarity.
The death from rabies of a bat conservationist in Dundee last year was the first fatality since 1902 from rabies acquired in the United Kingdom. The lethal virus, isolated from brain tissue at autopsy, was not the classical rabies virus but a closely related negative stranded RNA virus, the European bat lyssavirus type 2.
1 The genus lyssavirus, named after the Greek for "frenzy," includes the classic rabies virus, two European bat lyssaviruses, an Australian bat lyssavirus, and the African Duvenhage virus, all of which produce a similar fatal encephalomyelitis in humans
rabies.
Rabies is mainly transmitted in saliva during a bite from an infected animal. In the United Kingdom classic rabies was eliminated from the animal reservoir in the 1920s, and the 20 or so deaths reported since then resulted from infection acquired overseas, usually from dog bites.
2 European bat lyssavirus has its natural reservoir in bats, mainly the serotine bat (
Eptesicus serotinus) for European bat lyssavirus type 1, and the pond bat (
Myotis dasycneme) and Daubenton's bat (
Myotis daubentonii) for European bat lyssavirus type 2. Serotine bats are uncommon in Britain, and the pond bat is not found. Between 1977 and 2000 around 600 cases of infection with European bat lyssavirus were confirmed in bats in mainland Europe. By contrast a passive surveillance programme in the United Kingdom, involving about 2000 bats over 15 years, disclosed only two infected animals, in Sussex in 1996 and in Lancashire in 2002.
3 This indicates that European bat lyssavirus may be endemic in the United Kingdom, as in mainland Europe, but at a low level.
Both infected bats (
Now 3 as of today's date)found in the United Kingdom were Daubenton's bats, although only small numbers of this particular species had been tested. Daubenton's bat, one of 16 bat species resident in Britain, rarely roosts in houses and rarely comes into contact with people. The two bat species most commonly found roosting in British houses, pipistrelles (
Pipistrellus species) and long eared bats (
Plecotus auritus), have not been found to harbour European bat lyssavirus so far. Consequently the risk of a member of the public coming into contact with an infected bat seems very low. Even so bats, particularly if they are sick or injured, should not be handled. All bats are protected species, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and it is unlawful to harm them or their roosts.
In both Europe and Australia, bat lyssaviruses seem to be maintained only in indigenous bat populations, although European bat lyssavirus has been detected in a few sheep and in a stone marten, which is an arboreal mammal.
4 European bat lyssavirus has been responsible for four deaths since 1977
1 and Australian bat lyssavirus for two deaths since first being described in 1996.
5 Rabies infection, once clinically manifest, is invariably fatal. It is preventable by immunisation. Current recommendations in the United Kingdom are that all persons handling bats should be immunised.
6 The bat conservationist who died in Scotland had not been immunised. More than 1000 volunteers in the United Kingdom are handling bats regularly for conservation and welfare and therefore should all be immunised against rabies. Other occupations or recreational activities bringing people into close contact with bats might also justify immunisation. Currently available vaccines are safe and effective against both bat lyssaviruses and the classic rabies virus.
Derrick Pounder,
professor of forensic medicine. [size=-1] Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN
Regards
Malky
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