Rabia silvestre en murciélagos insectivoros en Chile

Abstract

From 1970 to 1984 there was a significant reduction of rabies in animal species in Chile, where from an endemic it waned to a disease of sporadic occurrence, with long intervals between outbreaks. No human cases have been reported since 1972. During the started period, there were 131 cases of rabies, 98.5 percent of them in animal species (1.5 percent in wildlife). The disease had never been described in the country in any species of bat until its diagnosis in the summer of 1985 in three specimens of the insectivorous bat Tadarida brasiliensis, which were found near death in the Metropolitan Region. In the present study brain tissue sections from the three bats were examined by direct immunofluorescence (DIF) and suspensions of the three brains inoculated into suckling and adult mice. All the bats and mice tested positive. In addition, suspensions of triturated bodies of the three bats were inoculated into the brains of suckling mice; one of the cases was 50 percent positive. The confirmation of rabies in wildlife, added to the fact that the mass dog-immunization program has been suspended since 1983, indicates a possible regressive trend in the occurence of the disease, which could climb to endemic levels higher than before in the country. This situation must be prevented by epidemiological surveillance and community education