title: Human rabies: a reemerging disease in Costa Rica?
abstract: Two human rabies cases caused by a bat-associated virus variant were identified in September 2001 in Costa Rica, after a 31-year absence of the disease in humans. Both patients lived in a rural area where cattle had a high risk for bat bites, but neither person had a definitive history of being bitten by a rabid animal. Characterization of the rabies viruses from the patients showed that the reservoir was the hematophagous Vampire Bat, Desmodus rotundus, and that a sick cat was the vector.
authors.affiliation: Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), San José, Costa Rica. xbadilla@ccss.sa.cr
authors.forename: Xiomara
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Badilla
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pérez-Herra
authors.forename: Ligia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quirós
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morice
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sáenz
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Salazar
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Orciari
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yager
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Whitfield
authors.forename: Charles E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Rupprecht
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001733:Bites and Stings; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D002648:Child; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000821:virology*; D003364:Costa Rica / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004285:Dogs; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D011818:Rabies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012307:Risk Factors; D015047:Zoonoses