Abstract
Bats in the EU have been associated with several zoonotic viral pathogens of significance to both human and animal health. Virus discovery continues to expand the existing understating of virus classification, and the increased interest in bats globally as reservoirs or carriers of zoonotic agents has fuelled the continued detection and characterisation of new lyssaviruses and other viral zoonoses. Although the transmission of lyssaviruses from bat species to humans or terrestrial species appears rare, interest in these viruses remains, through their ability to cause the invariably fatal encephalitis—rabies. The association of bats with other viral zoonoses is also of great interest. Much of the EU is free of terrestrial rabies, but several bat species harbor lyssaviruses that remain a risk to human and animal health. Whilst the rabies virus is the main cause of rabies globally, novel related viruses continue to be discovered, predominantly in bat populations, that are of interest purely through their classification within the lyssavirus genus alongside the rabies virus. Although the rabies virus is principally transmitted from the bite of infected dogs, these related lyssaviruses are primarily transmitted to humans and terrestrial carnivores by bats. Even though reports of zoonotic viruses from bats within the EU are rare, to protect human and animal health, it is important characterise novel bat viruses for several reasons, namely: (i) to investigate the mechanisms for the maintenance, potential routes of transmission, and resulting clinical signs, if any, in their natural hosts; (ii) to investigate the ability of existing vaccines, where available, to protect against these viruses; (iii) to evaluate the potential for spill over and onward transmission of viral pathogens in novel terrestrial hosts. This review is an update on the current situation regarding zoonotic virus discovery within bats in the EU, and provides details of potential future mechanisms to control the threat from these deadly pathogens.
Highlights
The global discovery of lyssaviruses is of continued scientific interest and is of importance to both public and animal health
Spill over from bats species appears common for rabies virus (RABV) in the Americas, whilst events involving the other lyssaviruses across the Old World appear to be rare
Alongside RABV, which is both associated with the infection of terrestrial carnivore species and the chiroptera, fifteen other genetically, and to some extent, antigenically-related viruses exist within the lyssavirus genus (Figure 1) [12]
Summary
The global discovery of lyssaviruses is of continued scientific interest and is of importance to both public and animal health. The severity of disease caused by lyssaviruses means that the potential for cross species transmission events (CSTs) is of significance to human and animal populations [6]. Spill over events are considered as those that result in dead-end infection, whilst CSTs result in the sustained onward transmission of the virus in the new host. Spill over from bats species appears common for RABV in the Americas, whilst events involving the other lyssaviruses across the Old World appear to be rare. The factors involved in CSTs with the sustained onward transmission of the virus remain undefined, and endeavours to identify specific amino acid substitutions facilitating virus adaptation to new host species have been, on the most part, unsuccessful. Intensive characterisation of the genetics within viral populations, including quasispecies, may elucidate the molecular mechanisms that facilitate lyssavirus adaption, opportunities to genetically characterise such events are rare
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