COST ACTION 920

Inventory of QMRA Studies in Europe

Pathogen

Lyssavirus

Country or region

The Netherlands

Transmission route

 From

Bats

To

Specific product(s)

End-point(s)

Bibliographic reference

Wim H. M. van der Poel, Reina van der Heide , Elisabeth R.A.M. Verstraten, Katsuhisa Takumi, Peter H. C.  Lina and Johannes A. Kramps. Distribution of European Bat Lyssaviruses in native bats in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the Netherlands, lyssaviruses are often detected in bats and presumed to constitute a public health hazard. To study the European Bat Lyssavirus (EBLV) epidemiology in bat reservoirs, native bats have been tested for rabies since 1984. From 1991 on, a nation-wide monitoring program has been in place and within this program all bats involved in biting incidents are tested for rabies. Of all collected bats, data including species, age, gender and finding location, were recorded. The serotine bat, Eptecicus serotinus  appeared to be the most important bat reservoir of EBLVs. In total 1218 serotine bats were tested and 251 (around 21%) were found rabies positive. A few positive detections were found in pond bats, Myotis dasycneme: 5 out of 113 specimens were tested EBLV positive (around 4.5%). The most common bat species in the Netherlands, the common pipistrelle, Pipistrellus pipistrellus was never found to be positive for EBLV. To molecularly characterize the prevalent lyssaviruses in these native bats, lyssavirus RNA of  46 (+ two final EBLV2s) EBLV positive samples was amplified by RT-PCR and  RT-PCR-amplified products of the virus’ nucleoprotein encoding regions were directly sequenced and analysed phylogenetically. All serotine bat specimens clustered with  genotype V (EBL1) sequences and included EBL1a  as well as EBL1b sequences. Homologies within subgenotypes EBL1a and EBL1b ranged from 97 to 100% and 95 to 100% respectively. Two isolates, detected in pond bats, clustered with Lyssavirus genotype VI (EBLV2). A significant change over the years, in lyssavirus strains prevalent in bats in the Netherlands, was not observed. Our findings indicate that European Bat Lyssaviruses of genotype V are endemic in serotine bats in the Netherlands: Incidence around 21% of the submitted specimens. A much lower lyssavirus incidence of around 4.5%, and of genotype VI was found in the pond bat. Since EBLVs can cause fatal infections in humans, all serotine and pond bats involved in contact incidents should be tested in order to determine if the victim was exposed to the potentially fatal EBLV.

Status

In progress

Availability

Institute

Microbiological Laboratory for Health Protection, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, P.O. box 1, Bilthoven, the Netherlands.

Contact person

wim.van.der.poel@rivm.nl

Partners

Central Institute for Animal Diseases Control – Lelystad,  Lelystad, the Netherlands.
National Museum of Natural History “Naturalis” Leiden, the Netherlands