Document Type : Research article
Authors
1
Department of Virology, Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Agriculture Research Centre (ARC), Giza 12618, Egypt.
2
Department of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 12211, Egypt. 3 Department of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, King Salman International University, South Sinai, Egypt.
3
Department of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 12211, Egypt.
Abstract
Rabies vaccination campaigns target foxes, dogs, cats, and other carnivores as potential disease carriers. Otherwise, without immunization, animals such as cattle, donkeys, and bats coexisted with those carnivores and other domestic animals could be infected. A freshly dead cat and 250 deceased Egyptian tomb bats (Taphozous perforatus) were examined in this study. N-gene-specific primers were used in RT-PCR to detect the rabies virus. Rabies virus was confirmed by immunofluorescence, histopathology, and baby hamster kidney cells (BHK-21) propagation. The incomplete sequence of the rabies genome's (N) gene was also sequenced using 720 bp PCR fragments. It may be easier for the virus to spread from bat tissue to carnivores by hunting or even by feeding on recently dead bats, as evidenced by the isolation of rabies from bats that may be fed on the beetles, ticks, and other arthropods contaminated with the saliva of rabid animals. Indeed, this study reports the isolation and characterization of the rabies virus from Egyptian tomb bats (T. perforatus) in Egypt. It is worth noting that, to our knowledge, this is the first report of rabies detection in bats in Egypt.
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