title: Epidemiology of bat rabies in Germany.
abstract: Rabies in European bats was first reported in Germany in 1954. In concordance with Denmark and the Netherlands, Germany has reported one of the highest numbers (n = 187) of European bat lyssavirus (EBLV)-positive cases in bats in Europe so far (1954-2005). A combined descriptive epidemiological and phylogenetic analysis on bat rabies and prevailing EBLVs is presented, comprising the past 50 years. So far, only the two lineages of EBLV-1 (genotype 5), a and b, have been detected. Although only 50% of the rabies-positive bats have been identified by species, the Serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) is the bat species most frequently infected. Single rabies cases have also been detected in a further five indigenous bat species. There is proven evidence for a substantial bias in the frequency of bat rabies cases in the north of Germany, with an endemic cluster in the northwesternmost low-lying plain areas adjacent to the Netherlands and Denmark. Improvements to bat rabies surveillance and research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Epidemiology, WHO Collaborating Centre for Rabies Surveillance and Research, OIE Reference Laboratory for Rabies, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Wusterhausen, Germany. thomas.mueller@fli.bund.de
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Freuling
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fooks
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Selhorst
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D018114:Lyssavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011818:Rabies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history / Q000821:virology; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral