Escobar Luis E, Peterson A Townsend, Favi Myriam, Yung Verónica, Medina-Vogel Gonzalo
Facultad de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago Centro, Chile.
Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA.
Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2015 Jan-Feb;57(1):63-72. doi: 10.1590/S0036-46652015000100009.
The situation of rabies in America is complex: rabies in dogs has decreased dramatically, but bats are increasingly recognized as natural reservoirs of other rabies variants. Here, bat species known to be rabies-positive with different antigenic variants, are summarized in relation to bat conservation status across Latin America. Rabies virus is widespread in Latin American bat species, 22.5%75 of bat species have been confirmed as rabies-positive. Most bat species found rabies positive are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as "Least Concern". According to diet type, insectivorous bats had the most species known as rabies reservoirs, while in proportion hematophagous bats were the most important. Research at coarse spatial scales must strive to understand rabies ecology; basic information on distribution and population dynamics of many Latin American and Caribbean bat species is needed; and detailed information on effects of landscape change in driving bat-borne rabies outbreaks remains unassessed. Finally, integrated approaches including public health, ecology, and conservation biology are needed to understand and prevent emergent diseases in bats.
犬类狂犬病已大幅减少，但蝙蝠越来越被视为其他狂犬病变种的自然宿主。在此，已知感染不同抗原变种狂犬病的蝙蝠物种，根据拉丁美洲各地蝙蝠的保护状况进行了总结。狂犬病病毒在拉丁美洲蝙蝠物种中广泛传播，22.5%的蝙蝠物种已被确认为狂犬病阳性。大多数被发现狂犬病呈阳性的蝙蝠物种被国际自然保护联盟列为“无危”。根据食性类型，食虫蝙蝠中已知作为狂犬病宿主的物种最多，而按比例计算，吸血蝙蝠最为重要。在粗略空间尺度上的研究必须努力了解狂犬病生态学；需要许多拉丁美洲和加勒比蝙蝠物种的分布及种群动态的基础信息；而关于景观变化在引发蝙蝠传播的狂犬病疫情中的影响的详细信息仍未得到评估。最后，需要包括公共卫生、生态学和保护生物学在内的综合方法来理解和预防蝙蝠中的新发疾病。
