title: [Detection of serum antibodies against Japanese encephalitis virus in bats in Hainan and Guangdong Provinces of China].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of serum antibodies against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in bats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples from the heart were obtained from bats captured in Guangdong and Hainan Provinces in 2013. The anti-JEV antibodies in bat sera were tested using indirect ELISA and virus neutralization test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 201 bat serum samples were tested, in which the total positivity rate of anti-JEV antibodies was 46.27% (93/201). The positive rate of anti-JEV antibodies in bats from Hainan and Guangdong Provinces was 88.89% (48/54) and 30.61% (45/147), respectively. All the samples from Rousettus leschenaultia, Miniopterus schreibersii, Pipistrellus abramus, and Rhinolophus macrotis were positive for anti-JEV antibodies, and up to 95.56% (43/45) of the samples from Miniopterus schreibersii (from Hainan Province) yielded positive results. Of the 28 samples with positive results by indirect ELISA, 15 showed positive results in virus neutralization test (53.57%) with neutralization antibody titers ranging from 1:10 to 1:28.22.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bats from different regions and of different species can be naturally infected with JEV and have a high prevalence of anti-JEV antibodies in their sera. The role of bats in the natural cycle of JEV awaits further study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.E-mail: 359269402@qq.com.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Shaowei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xueyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Shujuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Qionghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yiquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Xueshan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Zhiyun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002681:China; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D009500:Neutralization Tests
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral