Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.

Rabies was known to humans as a disease thousands of years ago. In America, insectivorous bats are natural reservoirs of rabies virus. The bat species Tadarida brasiliensis and Lasiurus cinereus, with their respective, host-specific rabies virus variants AgV4 and AgV6, are the principal rabies reser...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Luis E Escobar, A Townsend Peterson, Myriam Favi, Verónica Yung, Daniel J Pons, Gonzalo Medina-Vogel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24349592/?tool=EBI
_version_ 1818575049412575232
author Luis E Escobar
A Townsend Peterson
Myriam Favi
Verónica Yung
Daniel J Pons
Gonzalo Medina-Vogel
author_facet Luis E Escobar
A Townsend Peterson
Myriam Favi
Verónica Yung
Daniel J Pons
Gonzalo Medina-Vogel
author_sort Luis E Escobar
collection DOAJ
description Rabies was known to humans as a disease thousands of years ago. In America, insectivorous bats are natural reservoirs of rabies virus. The bat species Tadarida brasiliensis and Lasiurus cinereus, with their respective, host-specific rabies virus variants AgV4 and AgV6, are the principal rabies reservoirs in Chile. However, little is known about the roles of bat species in the ecology and geographic distribution of the virus. This contribution aims to address a series of questions regarding the ecology of rabies transmission in Chile. Analyzing records from 1985-2011 at the Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile (ISP) and using ecological niche modeling, we address these questions to help in understanding rabies-bat ecological dynamics in South America. We found ecological niche identity between both hosts and both viral variants, indicating that niches of all actors in the system are undifferentiated, although the viruses do not necessarily occupy the full geographic distributions of their hosts. Bat species and rabies viruses share similar niches, and our models had significant predictive power even across unsampled regions; results thus suggest that outbreaks may occur under consistent, stable, and predictable circumstances.
first_indexed 2024-12-15T00:35:04Z
format Article
id doaj.art-6a011028c5394205b2baeba7fd0e6a85
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1935-2727
1935-2735
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-15T00:35:04Z
publishDate 2013-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
spelling doaj.art-6a011028c5394205b2baeba7fd0e6a852022-12-21T22:41:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases1935-27271935-27352013-01-01712e257710.1371/journal.pntd.0002577Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.Luis E EscobarA Townsend PetersonMyriam FaviVerónica YungDaniel J PonsGonzalo Medina-VogelRabies was known to humans as a disease thousands of years ago. In America, insectivorous bats are natural reservoirs of rabies virus. The bat species Tadarida brasiliensis and Lasiurus cinereus, with their respective, host-specific rabies virus variants AgV4 and AgV6, are the principal rabies reservoirs in Chile. However, little is known about the roles of bat species in the ecology and geographic distribution of the virus. This contribution aims to address a series of questions regarding the ecology of rabies transmission in Chile. Analyzing records from 1985-2011 at the Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile (ISP) and using ecological niche modeling, we address these questions to help in understanding rabies-bat ecological dynamics in South America. We found ecological niche identity between both hosts and both viral variants, indicating that niches of all actors in the system are undifferentiated, although the viruses do not necessarily occupy the full geographic distributions of their hosts. Bat species and rabies viruses share similar niches, and our models had significant predictive power even across unsampled regions; results thus suggest that outbreaks may occur under consistent, stable, and predictable circumstances.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24349592/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Luis E Escobar
A Townsend Peterson
Myriam Favi
Verónica Yung
Daniel J Pons
Gonzalo Medina-Vogel
Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
title Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.
title_full Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.
title_fullStr Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.
title_full_unstemmed Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.
title_short Ecology and geography of transmission of two bat-borne rabies lineages in Chile.
title_sort ecology and geography of transmission of two bat borne rabies lineages in chile
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24349592/?tool=EBI
work_keys_str_mv AT luiseescobar ecologyandgeographyoftransmissionoftwobatbornerabieslineagesinchile
AT atownsendpeterson ecologyandgeographyoftransmissionoftwobatbornerabieslineagesinchile
AT myriamfavi ecologyandgeographyoftransmissionoftwobatbornerabieslineagesinchile
AT veronicayung ecologyandgeographyoftransmissionoftwobatbornerabieslineagesinchile
AT danieljpons ecologyandgeographyoftransmissionoftwobatbornerabieslineagesinchile
AT gonzalomedinavogel ecologyandgeographyoftransmissionoftwobatbornerabieslineagesinchile