Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación Médica, Unidad de Investigación en Inmunología. Hospital de Pediatría, Mexico City , México.
Institute of Virology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Helmut-Ruska-Haus, Berlin, Germany.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Jul 24;17(7):e0010439. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010439. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Bats are important natural reservoir hosts of a diverse range of viruses that can be transmitted to humans and have been suggested to play an important role in the Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission cycle. However, the exact role of these animals as reservoirs for flaviviruses is still controversial. To further expand our understanding of the role of bats in the ZIKV transmission cycle in Latin America, we carried out an experimental infection in wild-caught Artibeus lituratus bats and sampled several free-living neotropical bats across three countries of the region. Experimental ZIKV infection was performed in wild-caught adult bats (4 females and 5 males). The most relevant findings were hemorrhages in the bladder, stomach and patagium. Significant histological findings included inflammatory infiltrate consisting of a predominance of neutrophils and lymphocytes, in addition to degeneration in the reproductive tract of males and females. This suggests that bat reproduction might be at some level affected by ZIKV. Leukopenia was also observed in some inoculated animals. Hemorrhages, genital alterations, and leukopenia are suggested to be caused by ZIKV; however, since these were wild-caught bats, we cannot exclude other agents. Detection of ZIKV by qPCR was observed at low concentrations in only two urine samples in two inoculated animals. All other animals and tissues tested were negative. Finally, no virus-neutralizing antibodies were found in any animal. To determine ZIKV infection in nature, the blood of a total of 2056 bats was sampled for ZIKV detection by qPCR. Most of the sampled individuals belonged to the genus Pteronotus sp. (23%), followed by the species Carollia sp. (17%), Anoura sp. (14%), and Molossus sp. (13.7%). No sample of any tested species was positive for ZIKV by qPCR. These results together suggest that bats are not efficient amplifiers or reservoirs of ZIKV and may not have an important role in ZIKV transmission dynamics.
蝙蝠是多种病毒的重要天然宿主库，这些病毒可以传播给人类，并被认为在寨卡病毒（ZIKV）传播循环中发挥了重要作用。然而，这些动物作为黄病毒宿主的确切作用仍存在争议。为了进一步扩大我们对蝙蝠在拉丁美洲 ZIKV 传播循环中的作用的理解，我们对野外捕获的 Artibeus lituratus 蝙蝠进行了实验性感染，并在该地区的三个国家采集了几种自由生活的新热带蝙蝠。在野外捕获的成年蝙蝠（4 只雌性和 5 只雄性）中进行了实验性 ZIKV 感染。最相关的发现是膀胱、胃和翼膜出血。重要的组织学发现包括炎症浸润，主要是中性粒细胞和淋巴细胞，以及雄性和雌性生殖道的变性。这表明蝙蝠的繁殖可能在某种程度上受到 ZIKV 的影响。一些接种动物也出现了白细胞减少症。出血、生殖器改变和白细胞减少症被认为是由 ZIKV 引起的；然而，由于这些是野外捕获的蝙蝠，我们不能排除其他因素。在仅两名接种动物的两份尿液样本中观察到低浓度的 ZIKV 通过 qPCR 检测到。所有其他检测的动物和组织均为阴性。最后，没有发现任何动物有病毒中和抗体。为了确定自然界中的 ZIKV 感染，通过 qPCR 对总共 2056 只蝙蝠的血液进行了 ZIKV 检测。采样的个体中大多数属于 Pteronotus sp.（23%），其次是 Carollia sp.（17%）、Anoura sp.（14%）和 Molossus sp.（13.7%）。没有任何测试物种的样本通过 qPCR 检测到 ZIKV 呈阳性。这些结果共同表明，蝙蝠不是 ZIKV 的有效扩增或宿主，在 ZIKV 传播动力学中可能没有重要作用。
