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A new phylogenetic lineage of Rabies virus associated with western pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus hesperus)

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DVRD/VRZB/Rabies, G33, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA
² 1899 Olmo Way, Walnut Creek, CA 94598-1446, USA
³ Department of Biology and Center for Disease Ecology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA
⁴ Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Laboratory, California Department of Health Services, 850 Marina Bay Parkway, Richmond, CA 94804-6403, USA

Correspondence
Richard Franka
rpf5{at}cdc.gov

Bats represent the major source of human rabies cases in the New World. In the USA, most cases are associated with species that are not commonly found or reported rabid. To understand better the epidemiology and public health significance of potentially important bat species, a molecular study was performed on samples collected from naturally infected rabid western pipistrelle (Pipistrellus hesperus), eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus) and silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) from different regions of their geographical distribution in the USA. A 264 bp fragment at the 5' end of the N gene coding region was sequenced and analysed in comparison with rabies virus variants circulating within other North American mammals. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that P. hesperus bats maintain a unique rabies virus variant. Preliminary data also suggest that P. subflavus and Lasionycteris noctivagans may harbour two different rabies virus variants (Ps and Ln) that are likely to be maintained independently by each bat species, which recently appear to have emerged as major vectors of human disease.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the sequences reported in this paper are DQ445308–DQ445382.

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