ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2017
Neotropical bats that co-habit with humans function as dead-end hosts for dengue virus.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Viral Co-Infection in Bats: A Systematic Review.Viruses · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Viral epidemic potential is not uniformly distributed across the bat phylogeny.Communications biology · 2025Article
- A tale of endurance: bats, viruses and immune dynamics.Future microbiology · 2024Review
- Winter diet of bats in working forests of the southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Serological and molecular detection of dengue virus in animals: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Le infezioni in medicina · 2024Review
- Review
- Experimental infection of Artibeus lituratus bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guiana, Peru, and Costa Rica suggests a limited role of bats in Zika transmission.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- NovelViruses · 2023Article
- Serosurvey in Two Dengue Hyperendemic Areas of Costa Rica Evidence Active Circulation of WNV and SLEV in Peri-Domestic and Domestic Animals and in Humans.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Opportunities and Limitations of Molecular Methods for Studying Bat-Associated Pathogens.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Identification and evolutionary analysis of papillomavirus sequences in New World monkeys (genera Sapajus and Alouatta) from Argentina.Archives of virology · 2022Article
- Serological Positivity against SelectedViruses · 2022Article
- Article
- Animals as potential reservoirs for dengue transmission: A systematic review.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2021Review
- Article
- Misconceptions and misinformation about bats and viruses.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2021Article
- Two Cases of Natural Infection of Dengue-2 Virus in Bats in the Colombian Caribbean.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2021Article
- Bats in ecosystems and their Wide spectrum of viral infectious potential threats: SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging viruses.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2021Review
- Beyond Infection: Integrating Competence into Reservoir Host Prediction.Trends in ecology & evolution · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Several studies have shown Dengue Virus (DENV) nucleic acids and/or antibodies present in Neotropical wildlife including bats, suggesting that some bat species may be susceptible to DENV infection. Here we aim to elucidate the role of house-roosting bats in the DENV transmission cycle. Bats were sampled in households located in high and low dengue incidence regions during rainy and dry seasons in Costa Rica. We captured 318 bats from 12 different species in 29 households. Necropsies were performed in 205 bats to analyze virus presence in heart, lung, spleen, liver, intestine, kidney, and brain tissue. Histopathology studies from all organs showed no significant findings of disease or infection. Sera were analyzed by PRNT90 for a seroprevalence of 21.2% (51/241), and by PCR for 8.8% (28/318) positive bats for DENV RNA. From these 28 bats, 11 intestine samples were analyzed by RT-PCR. Two intestines were DENV RNA positive for the same dengue serotype detected in blood. Viral isolation from all positive organs or blood was unsuccessful. Additionally, viral load analyses in positive blood samples by qRT-PCR showed virus concentrations under the minimal dose required for mosquito infection. Simultaneously, 651 mosquitoes were collected using EVS-CO2 traps and analyzed for DENV and feeding preferences (bat cytochrome b). Only three mosquitoes were found DENV positive and none was positive for bat cytochrome b. Our results suggest an accidental presence of DENV in bats probably caused from oral ingestion of infected mosquitoes. Phylogenetic analyses suggest also a spillover event from humans to bats. Therefore, we conclude that bats in these urban environments do not sustain DENV amplification, they do not have a role as reservoirs, but function as epidemiological dead end hosts for this virus.
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