title: Detection of Alphacoronavirus in velvety free-tailed bats (Molossus molossus) and Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) from urban area of Southern Brazil.
abstract: A survey was carried out in search for bat coronaviruses in an urban maternity roost of about 500 specimens of two species of insectivorous bats, Molossus molossus and Tadarida brasiliensis, in Southern Brazil. Twenty-nine out of 150 pooled fecal samples tested positive by reverse transcription-PCR contained fragments of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene of coronavirus-related viruses. The sequences clustered along with bat alphacoronaviruses, forming a subcluster within this group. Our findings point to the need for risk assessment and continued surveillance of coronavirus infections of bats in Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Virology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Institute of Basic Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Sarmento Leite 500, Porto Alegre, RS CEP 90050-170, Brazil. esmaile.sales@gmail.com
authors.forename: Francisco Esmaile de Sales
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Fabrício Souza
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Hiran Castagnino
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kunert Filho
authors.forename: Helena Beatriz de Carvalho Ruthner
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Batista
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carnielli
authors.forename: Samuel Paulo
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Cibulski
authors.forename: Fernando Rosado
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Spilki
authors.forename: Paulo Michel
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Roehe
authors.forename: Ana Cláudia
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Franco
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000145:classification / Q000821:virology*; D003332:Coronaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003333:Coronaviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny