Abstract
Background: Astroviruses (AstVs) are common pathogens of a wide range of animal hosts, including mammals and avians, causing gastrointestinal diseases, mainly gastroenteritis and diarrhea. They prompt a significant health problem in newborns and young children and economic losses in the poultry sector and mink farms. Recent studies revealed a growing number of bat species carrying astroviruses with a noticeable prevalence and diversity. Here, we demonstrate the first detection of bat astroviruses (BtAstVs) circulating in the population of insectivorous bats in the territory of Poland. Results: Genetically diverse BtAstVs (n = 18) were found with a varying degree of bat species specificity in five out of 15 bat species in Poland previously recognized as BtAstV hosts. Astroviral RNA was found in 12 out of 98 (12.2%, 95% CI 7.1–20.2) bat intestines, six bat kidneys (6.1%, 95% CI 2.8–12.7) and two bat livers (2.0%, 95% CI 0.4–7.1). Deep sequencing of the astroviral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) region revealed co-infections in five single bat individuals with highly distinct astrovirus strains. Conclusions: The detection of highly distinct bat astroviruses in Polish bats favors virus recombination and the generation of novel divergent AstVs and creates a potential risk of virus transmission to domestic animals and humans in the country. These findings provide a new insight into molecular epidemiology, prevalence of astroviruses in European bat populations and the risk of interspecies transmission to other animals including humans.
Highlights
Bats (Chiroptera) are unique mammals, with the ability to fly, that occur all over the world with approximately 1200 species [1]
Two genera: avastroviruses, assigned to turkey, chicken and duck astroviruses, and mamastroviruses, including bat, ovine, porcine, bovine, domesticated animals, mink, rodents, marine mammals and novel human astroviruses are distinguished within the Astroviridae family [5,6]
A total of 98 bats from the territory of Poland of both sexes, including individuals belonging to fifteen species: Eptesicus nilsonii (n = 2), Eptesicus serotinus (n = 22), Nyctalus noctula (n = 20), Plecotus auritus (n = 7), Hypsugo savii (n = 1), Myotis dasycneme (n = 2), Vespertillo murinus (n = 8), Pipistrellus pipistrellus (n = 4), Myotis daubentonii (n = 3), P. pipistrellus/P. pygmaeus (n = 4), Myotis alcathoe (n = 1), Myotis mystacinus (n = 2), Myotis myotis (n = 1), Pipistrellus nathusii (n = 3), Myotis nattereri (n = 1) and seventeen not identified bats, were collected in the frame of passive bat rabies surveillance and were tested for lyssavirus infection with negative results
Summary
Bats (Chiroptera) are unique mammals, with the ability to fly, that occur all over the world with approximately 1200 species [1] They are a reservoir of many viruses which may cross the species barrier and infect humans and animals [2]. Astroviruses (AstVs) are common pathogens of animals and humans that cause gastrointestinal diseases, mainly gastroenteritis and diarrhea. They prompt a significant health problem in newborns and young children and economic losses in the poultry sector and mink farms. Astroviruses were mostly found in apparently healthy animals without causing disease, similar to other viral infections, including highly pathogenic viruses, such as henipaviruses and filoviruses [10,11,12,13]. Phylogenetic analysis of Polish bat astroviruses (BtAstVs) based on partial region RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of astroviruses provides new data on the genetic diversity of AstVs crucial to the understanding of interspecies transmission and risk assessment to public health
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
