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Active surveillance of bat rabies in France: a 5-year study (2004-2009)
Evelyne Picard-Meyer1, Marie-Jo Dubourg-Savage, Laurent Arthur
1ANSES Nancy Laboratory for Rabies and Wildlife, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, European Union Reference Laboratories for Rabies and Serology, WHO Collaborating Centre, OIE Reference Laboratory for Rabies Technopole Agricole et Vétérinaire, BP 40 009, 54220 Malzeville, France. evelyne.picard-meyer@anses.fr
Abstract:
Active surveillance of bats in France started in 2004 with an analysis of 18 of the 45 bat species reported in Europe. Rabies antibodies were detected in six indigenous species, mainly in Eptesicus serotinus and Myotis myotis, suggesting previous contact with the EBLV-1 rabies virus. Nineteen of the 177 tested bats were shown serologically positive in seven sites, particularly in central and south-western France. Neither infectious viral particles nor viral genomes were detected in 173 and 308 tested oral swabs, respectively. The presence of neutralising antibodies in female bats (18.6%) was significantly higher than in males (5.6%).
