title: Bat-transmitted human rabies outbreaks, Brazilian Amazon.
abstract: We describe 2 bat-transmitted outbreaks in remote, rural areas of Portel and Viseu Municipalities, Pará State, northern Brazil. Central nervous system specimens were taken after patients' deaths and underwent immunofluorescent assay and histopathologic examination for rabies antigens; also, specimens were injected intracerebrally into suckling mice in an attempt to isolate the virus. Strains obtained were antigenically and genetically characterized. Twenty-one persons died due to paralytic rabies in the 2 municipalities. Ten rabies virus strains were isolated from human specimens; 2 other cases were diagnosed by histopathologic examination. Isolates were antigenically characterized as Desmodus rotundus variant 3 (AgV3). DNA sequencing of 6 strains showed that they were genetically close to D. rotundus-related strains isolated in Brazil. The genetic results were similar to those obtained by using monoclonal antibodies and support the conclusion that the isolates studied belong to the same rabies cycle, the virus variants found in the vampire bat D. rotundus.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Arbovirologia e Febres Hemorrágicas, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ministry of Health, Av. Almirante Barroso 492, 66093-020 Belém, Brazil.
authors.forename: Elizabeth S T
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: da Rosa
authors.forename: Ivanete
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kotait
authors.forename: Taciana F S
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Carrieri
authors.forename: Paulo E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Brandão
authors.forename: Amiraldo S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.forename: Alberto L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Begot
authors.forename: Marcelo Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Rosely C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Edmundo C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Grisard
authors.forename: Márcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Reynaldo J da Silva
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Lúcia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montebello
authors.forename: Daniele B A
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: Rita C M
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.forename: Gilberta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bensabath
authors.forename: Eduardo H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Carmo
authors.forename: Pedro F C
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA