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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, May 2006, p. 1697-1710, Vol. 44, No. 5
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.44.5.1697-1710.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Diversity of Rabies Viruses Associated with Bats in Mexico and Other Countries of the Americas

Viral and Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., Mail Stop G33, Atlanta, Georgia 30333,¹ Laboratorio de Rabia, Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos, SSA, 11340 México, D.F., México,² Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, UNAM, 04510 México, D.F., México,³ Laboratorio de Evolución Molecular y Experimental, Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, AP 70-275, UNAM, 04510 México, D.F., México,⁴ Laboratorio Central Regional de Mérida, Km 4.5 antigua carretera Mérida-Motul, colonia Díaz Ordaz, 97130, Yucatán, México⁵

Received 15 November 2005/ Returned for modification 15 February 2006/ Accepted 10 March 2006

Bat rabies and its transmission to humans and other species in Mexico were investigated. Eighty-nine samples obtained from rabid livestock, cats, dogs, and humans in Mexico were studied by antigenic typing and partial sequence analysis. Samples were further compared with enzootic rabies associated with different species of bats in the Americas. Patterns of nucleotide variation allowed the definition of at least 20 monophyletic clusters associated with 9 or more different bat species. Several lineages associated with distinctive antigenic patterns were found in rabies viruses related to rabies in vampire bats in Mexico. Vampire bat rabies virus lineages associated with antigenic variant 3 are widely spread from Mexico to South America, suggesting these lineages as the most likely ancestors of vampire bat rabies and the ones that have been moved by vampire bat populations throughout the Americas. Rabies viruses related to Lasiurus cinereus, Histiotus montanus, and some other not yet identified species of the genus Lasiurus were found circulating in Mexico. Long-range dissemination patterns of rabies are not necessarily associated with migratory bat species, as in the case of rabies in Desmodus rotundus and Histiotus montanus. Human rabies was associated with vampire bat transmission in most cases, and in one case, rabies transmission from free-tailed bats was inferred. The occurrence of rabies spillover from bats to domestic animals was also demonstrated. Genetic typing of rabies viruses allowed us to distinguish trends of disease dissemination and to address, in a preliminary fashion, aspects of the complex evolution of rabies viruses in different host-reservoir species.

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