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bigalpha wrote:Are there any widespread infectious diseases spread solely by bats?
Watching the Al Gore movie, and bats were listed as an animal that can carry infectious disease. Any truth to that?
kmstill wrote:Off the top of my head - I the fruit bats have been implicated with the Nipah and, I think, Hendra viruses. I believe the Australian Lyssa virus is most often associated with the flying foxes; I don't know if its been identified in other species. To my knowlege, there hasn't been documented direct bat-human transmission of either Nipah or Hendra. Nipah was generally picked up by swine feeding on fruit w/ infective guano and hendra was primarily a horse disease with a few human cases on the side, presumably from exposure to the horses. Both of these disease are considered emerging, and the body of knowledge on them is far from complete. L
Lyssa virus is a different story; its behavior is effectively identical to bat rabies. Some of the bat biologists out there might now better/more current. I'll check around and let you know if I dredge up more info.
Insectivorous bats are known to carry other Lyssaviruses overseas and therefore cannot be discounted as a potenital risk, at this stage.
kmstill wrote:I've never heard of anyone catching leptospirosis through caving (again, requires ingesting or intimate mucous membrane contact with the bacteria - often through water contaminated by urine; plenty of above ground mammals carry and shed this disease).
monicak wrote:Thanks for the terrific review.
Many years ago (late 70's), a researcher acquired Rabies from an aerosolized live virus. It was the first case and the mechanism was very clearly documented. Kind of a tragedy, the woman was working on developing the preventative vaccine at the time. She had not been vaccinated and was sprayed on the job. She was one of the first survivors of Rabies but she had significant neurological deficits.
Monica
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