Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats.
Bartonella spp. are globally distributed bacteria that cause endocarditis in humans and domestic animals. Recent work has suggested bats as zoonotic reservoirs of some human Bartonella infections; however, the ecological and spatiotemporal patterns of infection in bats remain largely unknown. Here w...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:615e1a316d9545e585bd5b33bbd42caa 2023-05-15T15:13:53+02:00 Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats. Daniel J Becker Laura M Bergner Alexandra B Bentz Richard J Orton Sonia Altizer Daniel G Streicker 2018-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006786 https://doaj.org/article/615e1a316d9545e585bd5b33bbd42caa EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6159870?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0006786 https://doaj.org/article/615e1a316d9545e585bd5b33bbd42caa PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 12, Iss 9, p e0006786 (2018) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006786 2022-12-31T08:58:02Z Bartonella spp. are globally distributed bacteria that cause endocarditis in humans and domestic animals. Recent work has suggested bats as zoonotic reservoirs of some human Bartonella infections; however, the ecological and spatiotemporal patterns of infection in bats remain largely unknown. Here we studied the genetic diversity, prevalence of infection across seasons and years, individual risk factors, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella in populations of common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) in Peru and Belize, for which high infection prevalence has previously been reported. Phylogenetic analysis of the gltA gene for a subset of PCR-positive blood samples revealed sequences that were related to Bartonella described from vampire bats from Mexico, other Neotropical bat species, and streblid bat flies. Sequences associated with vampire bats clustered significantly by country but commonly spanned Central and South America, implying limited spatial structure. Stable and nonzero Bartonella prevalence between years supported endemic transmission in all sites. The odds of Bartonella infection for individual bats was unrelated to the intensity of bat flies ectoparasitism, but nearly all infected bats were infested, which precluded conclusive assessment of support for vector-borne transmission. While metagenomic sequencing found no strong evidence of Bartonella DNA in pooled bat saliva and fecal samples, we detected PCR positivity in individual saliva and feces, suggesting the potential for bacterial transmission through both direct contact (i.e., biting) and environmental (i.e., fecal) exposures. Further investigating the relative contributions of direct contact, environmental, and vector-borne transmission for bat Bartonella is an important next step to predict infection dynamics within bats and the risks of human and livestock exposures. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 12 9 e0006786 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Daniel J Becker Laura M Bergner Alexandra B Bentz Richard J Orton Sonia Altizer Daniel G Streicker Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Bartonella spp. are globally distributed bacteria that cause endocarditis in humans and domestic animals. Recent work has suggested bats as zoonotic reservoirs of some human Bartonella infections; however, the ecological and spatiotemporal patterns of infection in bats remain largely unknown. Here we studied the genetic diversity, prevalence of infection across seasons and years, individual risk factors, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella in populations of common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) in Peru and Belize, for which high infection prevalence has previously been reported. Phylogenetic analysis of the gltA gene for a subset of PCR-positive blood samples revealed sequences that were related to Bartonella described from vampire bats from Mexico, other Neotropical bat species, and streblid bat flies. Sequences associated with vampire bats clustered significantly by country but commonly spanned Central and South America, implying limited spatial structure. Stable and nonzero Bartonella prevalence between years supported endemic transmission in all sites. The odds of Bartonella infection for individual bats was unrelated to the intensity of bat flies ectoparasitism, but nearly all infected bats were infested, which precluded conclusive assessment of support for vector-borne transmission. While metagenomic sequencing found no strong evidence of Bartonella DNA in pooled bat saliva and fecal samples, we detected PCR positivity in individual saliva and feces, suggesting the potential for bacterial transmission through both direct contact (i.e., biting) and environmental (i.e., fecal) exposures. Further investigating the relative contributions of direct contact, environmental, and vector-borne transmission for bat Bartonella is an important next step to predict infection dynamics within bats and the risks of human and livestock exposures. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Daniel J Becker Laura M Bergner Alexandra B Bentz Richard J Orton Sonia Altizer Daniel G Streicker |
author_facet |
Daniel J Becker Laura M Bergner Alexandra B Bentz Richard J Orton Sonia Altizer Daniel G Streicker |
author_sort |
Daniel J Becker |
title |
Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats. |
title_short |
Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats. |
title_full |
Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats. |
title_fullStr |
Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of Bartonella spp. in vampire bats. |
title_sort |
genetic diversity, infection prevalence, and possible transmission routes of bartonella spp. in vampire bats. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006786 https://doaj.org/article/615e1a316d9545e585bd5b33bbd42caa |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 12, Iss 9, p e0006786 (2018) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6159870?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0006786 https://doaj.org/article/615e1a316d9545e585bd5b33bbd42caa |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006786 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
e0006786 |
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1766344406776938496 |