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Standard Operating Procedure for Lyssavirus Surveillance of the Bat Population in Taiwan
Published on: August 27, 2019
Epizootology and experimental infection of Yokose virus in bats
Shumpei Watanabe1, Tsutomu Omatsu, Mary E G Miranda
1Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
Abstract:
To reveal whether bats serve as an amplifying host for Yokose virus (YOKV), we conducted a serological survey and experimentally infected fruit bats with YOKV isolated from microbats in Japan. YOKV belongs to the Entebbe bat virus group of vector unknown group within the genus Flavivirus and family Flaviviridae. To detect antibodies against YOKV, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using biotinylated anti-bat IgG rabbit sera. Serological surveillance was conducted with samples collected in the Philippines and the sera supplied from Malaysia. One of the 36 samples from the Philippines (2.7%) and 5 of the 26 samples from Malaysia (19%) had detectable ELISA antibodies. In the experimental infections, no clinical signs of disease were observed. Moreover, no significant viral genome amplification was detected. These findings revealed that YOKV replicates poorly in the fruit bat, suggesting that fruit bats do not seem to serve as an amplifying host for YOKV.
