Ecology of Virus Transmission in Commensal Bats

Research Task: 8327CN9.5.0
Task Manager: Tom O'Shea

Rabies commonly circulates in populations of commensal bats (bats that live in close proximity to humans). In Colorado, bats have been virtually the only wildlife associated with human exposures to rabies. From 2001–2006, FORT biologists investigated the ecological dynamics of rabies transmission in big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) populations that roost and live within cities, using Fort Collins, Colorado, as the case study. Project collaborators included Colorado State University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The 5-year study was completed in 2006, emphasizing host demography and viral exposure. Investigators are completing data analysis, modeling, and publication work. Final results include a new model for rabies transmission in bats and are expected to be of considerable interest to public health agencies and bat conservationists. Modeling suggests that rabies maintenance is determined by factors affecting (1) a viable bat population and (2) sufficient pathogen transmission within the viable bat population. Seasonal variability in bat mortality rates, especially low mortality during hibernation, allows long-term bat population viability. Within viable bat populations, sufficiently long incubation periods allow enough infected individuals to enter hibernation and avoid an epizootic fadeout of rabies virus. We hypothesize that the slowing effects of hibernation on metabolic and viral activity maintains infected individuals and their pathogens until susceptibles from the annual birth pulse become infected and continue the cycle. For more information on the study, visit the Colorado State University project site at http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/bats/.

 For more information contact Tom O'Shea

Related Products

Publications

• Host and viral ecology determine bat rabies seasonality and maintenance
• Bat ecology and public health surveillance for rabies in an urbanizing region of Colorado
• Alphacoronaviruses in New World bats: Prevalence, persistence, phylogeny, and potential for interaction with humans
• Adult survival and population growth rate in Colorado big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)
• Recruitment in a Colorado population of big brown bats: breeding probabilities, litter size, and first-year survival
• Evaluation of morphological indices and total body electrical conductivity to assess body composition in big brown bats
• Detection of group 1 coronaviruses in bats in North America
• Factors influencing movement probabilities of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in buildings
• A comparison of conventional capture versus PIT reader techniques for estimating survival and capture probabilities of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)
• Urban maternity-roost selection by big brown bats in Colorado
• Molecular ecology of the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus): Genetic and natural history variation in a hybrid zone
• Ectoparasites in an urban population of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in Colorado
• Lack of association between ectoparasite intensities and rabies virus neutralizing antibody seroprevalence in wild big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), Fort Collins, Colorado
• Sampling Blood from big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in the field with and without anesthesia: Impacts on survival
• Autumn migration and selection of rock crevices as hibernacula by big brown bats in Colorado
• Ecology of commensual bats in relation to rabies transmission: excerpts of the Fort Collins study, 2001-2005
• Ecology of commensal bats in relation to rabies transmission: summary of the Fort Collins study, 2001-2005
• Survival and condition of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) after radiotagging
• Genetic divergence of rabies viruses from bat species of Colorado, USA
• Anesthesia and blood sampling of wild big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) with an assessment of impacts on survival
• Rabies in a captive colony of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)