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Responses of mice to inoculation with low doses of a bat rabies virus variant

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Abstract

Rabies is generally considered a fatal disease, yet neutralizing antibodies to rabies virus (RV) have frequently been found in sera from healthy, insectivorous bats, and mark-recapture studies have demonstrated bats that are still alive years after the first detection of anti-RV antibodies. To explore this phenomenon, we exposed mice to a big brown bat variant of RV, using three routes of inoculation, two doses of virus and two frequencies of exposure. We found the highest rate of seroconversion without mortality in mice that received repeated intramuscular inoculation of the higher dose of virus, and mice inoculated intranasally experienced the highest mortality.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Christina Ndaluka

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, 1680 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Richard Bowen

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  1. Christina Ndaluka
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  2. Richard Bowen
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Correspondence to Richard Bowen.

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Ndaluka, C., Bowen, R. Responses of mice to inoculation with low doses of a bat rabies virus variant. Arch Virol 158, 1355–1359 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-013-1605-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-013-1605-y

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