Ecology of Virus Transmission in Commensal Bat Colonies

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

Bats can be reservoirs for viruses that transmit to humans. As urban sprawl replaces natural colony sites with building roosts, the potential for public contact with bats as possible disease vectors increases. Rabies is the foremost example, but there is little credible information on rabies in bats from public health agency records. Less is known about rabies infection in free-flying urban bat populations, or on factors that affect transmission among individual bats and colonies. The project will develop empirical models of the influence of bat population dynamics and movements on rabies transmission rates. The study will emphasize sampling and recapture of marked big brown bats in Fort Collins, Colorado, a rapidly sprawling area. Bats will be sampled for rabies virus and antibodies, and other factors that may influence disease transmission will be determined using information-theoretic methods. Buildings with roosts will be characterized, and movements among buildings modeled using Geographic Information Systems. This work will improve understanding of the ecology of disease transmission in bats and provide a unique molecular-based characterization of rabies virus dynamics. The study will provide a more sophisticated and predictive evaluation of the transmission and spread of bat-borne diseases in growing urban areas.