Aislamiento del virus de la encefalitis Venezolana de un murciélago frugívoro (artibeus turpis) en México

Abstract

Venezuelan encephalitis was first recognized as a disease of equines but recent VE virus infections have occurred in epidemic porportions in human populations, and the virus has been isolated from a number of animals. This report of an isolation of VE virus from a frugivorous bat, Artibeus turpis, in Mexico extends the host range of VE virus. The validity of the isolation was substantiated by the fact that 63Y75 was the fourth of a series of seven specimens processed in the same cubicle early one morning; the other six specimens, three processed before and three after 63Y75, were negative. Contamination in the field was not likely to have occurred because only one of the group of 65 bats caught and processed on 6 August 1963 to put organs in ampules on dry ice yielded a virus. Therefore, this isolation of VE virus, together with reports of other arbovirus isolations from bats, the characteristics of experimental arbovirus infection in these animals and their frequent natural proximity to vector mosquitoes, man and equines, indicate that bats may be of potential importance to some arbovirus diseases. Their role could certainly be as source of virus for vector mosquitoes during periods of viremia, but further studies are also needed to evaluate excretion or secretion of VE virus by bats and possible direct spread of virus to man or equines(AU)