In March 2008, a man who had recently immigrated from Mexico went to a hospital in Santa Barbara County, California, USA, where he died. Rabies was suspected, and a history was obtained of prior dog exposure and a confirmed fox bite in Oaxaca, Mexico, 110 days before the onset of neurologic symptoms
... died of infection with an RV variant most closely associated with RVs associated with insectivorous bats (T. brasiliensis). Both the molecular and phylogenetic characterizations of this RV suggest that this is a new lineage.
Although the primary reservoir or most likely origin of this RV was determined to be an insectivorous bat (unknown species), the history of carnivore exposure suggests that a secondary transmitter (vector) could have been involved in the transmission chain, as has been reported in other cases (13).
One cannot, however, rule out the possibility that the unknown reservoir species of this new RV lineage is, in fact, a different bat species (which could have been involved in the primary transmission after an unnoticed or cryptic exposure) or a terrestrial carnivore (e.g., the biting fox). The establishment of an insectivorous bat-derived RV variant in a terrestrial reservoir (i.e., striped skunk) in northern Arizona has been described.
Enhanced epidemiologic surveillance and intensified research to characterize RV variants and their reservoirs in the region are needed to resolve this intriguing discovery.
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/12/1906.htm
... died of infection with an RV variant most closely associated with RVs associated with insectivorous bats (T. brasiliensis). Both the molecular and phylogenetic characterizations of this RV suggest that this is a new lineage.
Although the primary reservoir or most likely origin of this RV was determined to be an insectivorous bat (unknown species), the history of carnivore exposure suggests that a secondary transmitter (vector) could have been involved in the transmission chain, as has been reported in other cases (13).
One cannot, however, rule out the possibility that the unknown reservoir species of this new RV lineage is, in fact, a different bat species (which could have been involved in the primary transmission after an unnoticed or cryptic exposure) or a terrestrial carnivore (e.g., the biting fox). The establishment of an insectivorous bat-derived RV variant in a terrestrial reservoir (i.e., striped skunk) in northern Arizona has been described.
Enhanced epidemiologic surveillance and intensified research to characterize RV variants and their reservoirs in the region are needed to resolve this intriguing discovery.
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/12/1906.htm