Experimental infection of Artibeus lituratus bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guiana, Peru, and Costa Rica suggests a limited role of bats in Zika transmission - CNRS - Centre national de la recherche scientifique Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Année : 2023

Experimental infection of Artibeus lituratus bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guiana, Peru, and Costa Rica suggests a limited role of bats in Zika transmission

Alvaro Aguilar-Setién
Mónica Salas-Rojas
  • Fonction : Auteur
Guillermo Gálvez-Romero
  • Fonction : Auteur
Cenia Almazán-Marín
  • Fonction : Auteur
Andrés Moreira-Soto
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jorge Alfonso-Toledo
  • Fonction : Auteur
Cirani Obregón-Morales
  • Fonction : Auteur
Martha García-Flores
  • Fonction : Auteur
Anahí García-Baltazar
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jordi Serra-Cobo
  • Fonction : Auteur
Marc López-Roig
  • Fonction : Auteur
Nora Reyes-Puma
  • Fonction : Auteur
Marta Piche-Ovares
  • Fonction : Auteur
Mario Romero-Vega
  • Fonction : Auteur
Claudio Soto-Garita
  • Fonction : Auteur
Alejandro Alfaro-Alarcón
  • Fonction : Auteur
Eugenia Corrales-Aguilar
  • Fonction : Auteur
Osvaldo López-Díaz
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jan Felix Drexler
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Bats are important natural reservoir hosts of a diverse range of viruses that can be transmitted to humans and have been suggested to play an important role in the Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission cycle. However, the exact role of these animals as reservoirs for flaviviruses is still controversial. To further expand our understanding of the role of bats in the ZIKV transmission cycle in Latin America, we carried out an experimental infection in wild-caught Artibeus lituratus bats and sampled several free-living neotropical bats across three countries of the region. Experimental ZIKV infection was performed in wild-caught adult bats (4 females and 5 males). The most relevant findings were hemorrhages in the bladder, stomach and patagium. Significant histological findings included inflammatory infiltrate consisting of a predominance of neutrophils and lymphocytes, in addition to degeneration in the reproductive tract of males and females. This suggests that bat reproduction might be at some level affected by ZIKV. Leukopenia was also observed in some inoculated animals. Hemorrhages, genital alterations, and leukopenia are suggested to be caused by ZIKV; however, since these were wild-caught bats, we cannot exclude other agents. Detection of ZIKV by qPCR was observed at low concentrations in only two urine samples in two inoculated animals. All other animals and tissues tested were negative. Finally, no virus-neutralizing antibodies were found in any animal. To determine ZIKV infection in nature, the blood of a total of 2056 bats was sampled for ZIKV detection by qPCR. Most of the sampled individuals belonged to the genus Pteronotus sp. (23%), followed by the species Carollia sp. (17%), Anoura sp. (14%), and Molossus sp. (13.7%). No sample of any tested species was positive for ZIKV by qPCR. These results together suggest that bats are not efficient amplifiers or reservoirs of ZIKV and may not have an important role in ZIKV transmission dynamics.
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Dates et versions

hal-04611216 , version 1 (13-06-2024)

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Alvaro Aguilar-Setién, Mónica Salas-Rojas, Guillermo Gálvez-Romero, Cenia Almazán-Marín, Andrés Moreira-Soto, et al.. Experimental infection of Artibeus lituratus bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guiana, Peru, and Costa Rica suggests a limited role of bats in Zika transmission. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2023, 17 (7), pp.e0010439. ⟨10.1371/journal.pntd.0010439⟩. ⟨hal-04611216⟩
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