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Scientific papers
Defining New Pathways to Manage the Ongoing Emergence of Bat Rabies in Latin America
Rabies transmitted by common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) has been known since the early 1900s but continues to expand geographically and in the range of species and environments affected. In this review, we present current knowledge of the epidemiology and management of rabies in D. rotundus and argue that it can be reasonably considered an emerging public health threat. We …
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Scientific papers
Dynamics of influenza transmission in vampire bats revealed by longitudinal monitoring and a large-scale anthropogenic perturbation
Interrupting pathogen transmission between species is a priority strategy to mitigate zoonotic threats. However, avoiding counterproductive interventions requires knowing animal
reservoirs of infection and the dynamics of transmission within them, neither of which are easily ascertained from the cross-sectional surveys which currently dominate investigations into newly discovered viruses. We used biobanked sera and metagenomic data to reconstruct the transmission … -
Scientific papers
Ecological and anthropogenic drivers of rabies exposure in vampire bats
Despite extensive culling of common vampire bats in Latin America, lethal human rabies outbreaks transmitted by this species are increasingly recognized, and livestock rabies occurs with striking frequency. To identify the individual and population-level factors driving rabies virus (RV) transmission in vampire bats, we conducted a longitudinal capture–recapture study in 20 vampire bat colonies spanning four regions of …
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Scientific papers
Ecological determinants of rabies virus dynamics in vampire bats and spillover to livestock
The pathogen transmission dynamics in bat reservoirs underpin efforts to reduce risks to human health and enhance bat conservation but are notoriously challenging to resolve. For vampire bat rabies, the geographical scale of enzootic cycles, whether environmental factors modulate baseline risk, and how within-host processes affect population-level dynamics remain unresolved. We studied patterns of rabies exposure using an …
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Scientific papers
Fluorescent biomarkers demonstrate prospects for spreadable vaccines to control disease transmission in wild bats
Vaccines that autonomously transfer among individuals have been proposed as a strategy to control infectious diseases within inaccessible wildlife populations. However, rates of vaccine spread and epidemiological efficacy in real-world systems remain elusive. Here, we investigate whether topical vaccines that transfer among individuals through social contacts can control vampire bat rabies—a medically and economically important zoonosis in Latin …
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Scientific papers
Host–pathogen evolutionary signatures reveal dynamics and future invasions of vampire bat rabies
Anticipating how epidemics will spread across landscapes requires understanding host dispersal events that are notoriously difficult to measure. Here, we contrast host and virus genetic signatures to resolve the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying geographic expansions of vampire bat rabies virus (VBRV) in Peru. Phylogenetic analysis revealed recent viral spread between populations that, according to extreme geographic structure in maternally …
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Scientific papers
Incorporating environmental heterogeneity and observation effort to predict host distribution and viral spillover from a bat reservoir
Predicting the spatial occurrence of wildlife is a major challenge for ecology and management. In Latin America, limited knowledge of the number and locations of vampire bat roosts precludes informed allocation of measures intended to prevent rabies spillover to humans and livestock. We inferred the spatial distribution of vampire bat roosts while accounting for observation effort and environmental …
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Scientific papers
Quantifying the burden of vampire bat rabies in Peruvian livestock
Knowledge of infectious disease burden is necessary to appropriately allocate resources for prevention and control. In Latin America, rabies is among the most important zoonoses for human health and agriculture, but the burden of disease attributed to its main reservoir, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), remains uncertain.
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Scientific papers
Spatial expansions and distribution of rabies in Peru
A major obstacle to anticipating the cross-species transmission of zoonotic diseases and developing novel strategies for their control is the scarcity of data informing howthese pathogens circulate within natural reservoir populations. Vampire bats are the primary reservoir of rabies in Latin America, where the disease remains among the most important viral zoonoses affecting humans and livestock. Unpredictable spatiotemporal …
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