Diseases (Mar 2022)

Human Rabies by Secondary Transmission in Argentina, 2021

  • Soledad Firpo,
  • María Guadalupe Piccirilli,
  • Rogelio Urizar,
  • Nicolas Vitta,
  • Stella Maris Hirmas Riade,
  • Constanza Leguizamón,
  • María Lorena Vico,
  • Gustavo Martínez,
  • Fernando J. Beltrán,
  • Daniel M. Cisterna

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases10010017
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
p. 17

Abstract

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Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by the rabies virus (RABV) that causes fatal encephalitis in mammals. Bats can transmit the disease to urban canines and felines, which rarely infect humans, establishing a secondary link. The last case of human rabies in Argentina was transmitted by a dog in 2008. We present the first case of human rabies originating from an insectivorous bat, Tadarida brasiliensis, transmitted by a feral cat in Buenos Aires province, Argentina.

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