Virology Department, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, Addlestone KT15 3NB, UK.
Pathology and Animal Sciences Department, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Addlestone KT15 3NB, UK.
Viruses. 2021 Oct 1;13(10):1979. doi: 10.3390/v13101979.
Lyssaviruses are an important genus of zoonotic viruses which cause the disease rabies. The United Kingdom is free of classical rabies (RABV). However, bat rabies due to European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2), has been detected in Daubenton's bats () in Great Britain since 1996, including a fatal human case in Scotland in 2002. Across Europe, European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1) is commonly associated with serotine bats (). Despite the presence of serotine bats across large parts of southern England, EBLV-1 had not previously been detected in this population. However, in 2018, EBLV-1 was detected through passive surveillance in a serotine bat from Dorset, England, using a combination of fluorescent antibody test, reverse transcription-PCR, Sanger sequencing and immunohistochemical analysis. Subsequent EBLV-1 positive serotine bats have been identified in South West England, again through passive surveillance, during 2018, 2019 and 2020. Here, we confirm details of seven cases of EBLV-1 and present similarities in genetic sequence indicating that emergence of EBLV-1 is likely to be recent, potentially associated with the natural movement of bats from the near continent.
狂犬病毒是一种重要的动物源性病毒属，能引起狂犬病。英国境内已无经典狂犬病（RABV）。然而，自 1996 年以来，在英国的大耳蝠（Daubenton's bats ()）中已检测到由伊波拉病毒 2 型（EBLV-2）引起的蝙蝠狂犬病，包括 2002 年在苏格兰的一例致命人类病例。在整个欧洲，伊波拉病毒 1 型（EBLV-1）通常与长尾蝙蝠（）有关。尽管在英格兰南部的大部分地区都有长尾蝙蝠，但在此人群中以前并未检测到 EBLV-1。然而，2018 年，通过对来自英格兰多塞特郡的一只长尾蝙蝠进行荧光抗体试验、反转录聚合酶链反应、Sanger 测序和免疫组织化学分析的被动监测，在该蝙蝠中检测到了 EBLV-1。随后，在 2018 年、2019 年和 2020 年期间，通过被动监测在英格兰西南部再次发现了 EBLV-1 阳性的长尾蝙蝠。在此，我们确认了 7 例 EBLV-1 的详细情况，并展示了遗传序列的相似性，表明 EBLV-1 的出现很可能是最近的，可能与蝙蝠从临近大陆的自然迁徙有关。
