Epidemiology, surveillance and control of Rabies transmitted by Insectivorous Bats

Abstract

An exhaustive bibliographic search was carried out on epidemiology,
surveillance and control strategies for Rabies variant 4 transmitted by
insectivorous bats. Likewise, as a case study, a retrospective study of
insectivorous bats captured by passive surveillance and analyzed to
determine the presence of rabies virus was carried out in the Province
of Río Negro, Argentina. The objective was to update the information
on the epidemiology of rabies variant 4 and to analyze the effectiveness
of the control measures usually recommended by health services.
The review carried out shows only 5 notifications in South America
corresponding to canines and felines between 2009 and 2019 and
with regard to people, three cases were reported: in Chile in 1963 and
2013 and in Colombia in 2012. The identification of insectivorous bats
carrying rabies ranges from 4% to 15%. For its part, the veterinary
public health service of the Health Ministry of Rio Negro collected
insectivorous bats from passive surveillance activities. The bats were
sent to the Laboratory of the Luis Pasteur Institute in the city of Buenos
Aires for identification of rabies virus. A total of 294 insectivorous bats
were analyzed in 26 locations. The proportion of the infected ones was
14.6% (95% CI 9.5-17.8) although there were no cases in dogs, cats or
people. Insectivorous bats can be a risk factor for canines, felines, and
humans, although notifications of variant 4 cases in these species are
extremely low in South America, so an evaluation of the recommended
and applied control strategy seems to be required, so far, as it is not 

cost-effective, and involves increasing operating costs in financial and
human resources, proposing more efficient risk control alternatives.