iScience (Feb 2025)
European distribution and intramuscular pathogenicity of divergent lyssaviruses West Caucasian bat virus and Lleida bat lyssavirus
- Stefania Leopardi,
- Laurent Dacheux,
- Jordi Serra-Cobo,
- Ágota Ábrahám,
- Branka Bajić,
- Hervé Bourhy,
- Szilárd-Lehel Bücs,
- Ivana Budinski,
- Martina Castellan,
- Petra Drzewniokova,
- Heliana Dundarova,
- Francesca Festa,
- Lauriane Kergoat,
- Maxime Leuchtmann,
- Marc López-Roig,
- Dominique Pontier,
- Maria Francesca Priore,
- Emmanuelle Robardet,
- Dino Scaravelli,
- Barbara Zecchin,
- Zsófia Lanszki,
- Tamás Görföl,
- Gábor Kemenesi,
- Paola De Benedictis
Affiliations
- Stefania Leopardi
- Laboratory for Emerging Viral Zoonoses, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy; Corresponding author
- Laurent Dacheux
- Unit Lyssavirus, Epidemiology and Neuropathology, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris-Cité, Paris, France; Unit Environment and Infectious Risks, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris-Cité, Paris, France
- Jordi Serra-Cobo
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals. Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Ágota Ábrahám
- National Laboratory of Virology, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- Branka Bajić
- Department of Genetic Research, Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković” – National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
- Hervé Bourhy
- Unit Lyssavirus, Epidemiology and Neuropathology, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris-Cité, Paris, France
- Szilárd-Lehel Bücs
- Centre for Bat Research and Conservation, Cluj Napoca, Romania
- Ivana Budinski
- Department of Genetic Research, Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković” – National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
- Martina Castellan
- Laboratory for Emerging Viral Zoonoses, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy
- Petra Drzewniokova
- Laboratory for Emerging Viral Zoonoses, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy; Department of Public Health Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Heliana Dundarova
- Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
- Francesca Festa
- Laboratory for Emerging Viral Zoonoses, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnology ''Charles Darwin'', University of Rome ''La Sapienza'', Roma, Italy
- Lauriane Kergoat
- Unit Lyssavirus, Epidemiology and Neuropathology, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris-Cité, Paris, France
- Maxime Leuchtmann
- Nature Environnement 17, Surgères, France; France Nature Environnement Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Angoulême, France
- Marc López-Roig
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals. Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Dominique Pontier
- CNRS Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive UMR5558, Université de Lyon Université, Lyon, France; LabEx ECOFECT Ecoevolutionary Dynamics of Infectious Diseases, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
- Maria Francesca Priore
- Laboratory for Emerging Viral Zoonoses, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy
- Emmanuelle Robardet
- Anses, Nancy Laboratory for Rabies and Wildlife, EURL for Rabies, ANSES, Malzéville Cedex, France
- Dino Scaravelli
- S.T.E.R.N.A., Forlì, Italy
- Barbara Zecchin
- Laboratory for Emerging Viral Zoonoses, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy
- Zsófia Lanszki
- National Laboratory of Virology, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; Institute of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- Tamás Görföl
- National Laboratory of Virology, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- Gábor Kemenesi
- National Laboratory of Virology, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; Institute of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
- Paola De Benedictis
- Laboratory for Emerging Viral Zoonoses, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 28,
no. 2
p. 111738
Abstract
Summary: Among lyssaviruses, West Caucasian bat virus (WCBV) and Lleida bat lyssavirus (LLEBV) raise concern as their divergence from rabies virus leads to the inefficacy of available prophylactic agents. Both viruses were described in the bat Miniopterus schreibersii. We investigated the European distribution of WCBV and LLEBV by screening sera from Miniopterus schreibersii across eight countries, finding widespread serological evidence and positivity up to 70%. We evaluated the intramuscular lethality of wild type isolates in Syrian hamsters. WCBV induced 100% lethality and a clinical disease compatible with furious rabies. All animals infected with LLEBV remained healthy for 40 days, despite one individual testing positive in the brain. We confirmed LLEBV’s intramuscular a-pathogenicity using mice. Infected hamsters developed antibodies by day seven, regardless the virus and the clinical outcome. This study highlights the widespread circulation of WCBV and LLEBV in Europe and suggests differences in neuro-invasiveness and/or pathogenesis that are crucial for risk assessment.
