Abstract
The aetiological agent of rabies is a member of the Lyssavirus genus (Rhabdoviridae family, order Mononegavirales). The disease (rabies) is endemic in many parts of Asia and Africa and still remains an important public and veterinary health threat. In Nigeria, there is a dearth of information on the natural infection and/or exposure of bat species to lyssaviruses. Therefore, this study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of rabies virus (RABV) neutralizing antibodies in sera obtained from bats from the central Plateau and North-East Bauchi States in Nigeria. Two hundred serum samples were collected from Nigerian fruit bats from six different locations and tested for anti-RABV antibodies using a commercial blocking ELISA. Of the 200 bat serum samples collected, one batch consisting of 111 samples did not meet the validation criteria and hence was not included in the final analysis. Of the remaining 89, only three (3.4%) contained anti-lyssavirus antibodies, demonstrating a low prevalence of lyssavirus antibodies in the study population. In order to further understand the exposure of bat species to phylogroup II lyssaviruses (Lagos bat virus and Mokola virus), the same panel of samples will be tested for neutralizing antibodies to phylogroup II members, viruses that do not cross-neutralize with members of phylogroup I.
Highlights
Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease and the aetiologic agent belongs to the genus Lyssavirus (Rhabdoviridae family) and order Mononegavirales
This panel of serum samples was tested with an ELISA kit (BioPro rabies ELISA Ab kit, Prague, Czech Republic), a blocking ELISA for serological diagnostic of rabies lyssavirus antibody in serum or plasma of domesticated and wild animals [16]
Dtihs.e20g17o,l2d, 2s6tandard method fluorescent antibody virus neutralization test (F3AoVf 4NT) cut-off value of 0.5 IU/mL, it could be shown that only two serum samples were on the borderline and an eqcuuat-lonffuvmablueer joufs0t.a5bIoUv/emtLh,eitcucot-uolfdf vbaelsuheo(wFinguthraet1o).nOlyfttwhoe 2se0r0usmerusammspalemspwleesreanonalythseedb,oordnelyrl8in9emet the vaanldidaantieoqnucarlinteurmiabsepr ejucsitfiaebdovbeytthheecmuta-onfuf vfaaclutuer(eFrigaunrde 1in).cOlufdtheed2f0o0rsaenruamlyssiasm
Summary
Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease and the aetiologic agent belongs to the genus Lyssavirus (Rhabdoviridae family) and order Mononegavirales. In Nigeria, LBV was first isolated from the straw-coloured fruit bat Eidolon helvum in 1956 on Lagos Island [11]. A seroprevalence of 19% was demonstrated in this species (in Nigeria) by a different research group [12], whereas almost double that seroprevalence (37%) was observed in the same bat species in Ghana [13].
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