Abstract
Forty-two Brucella strains were isolated from the salivary glands, mammary glands, milk, placenta, fetus, uterus, brain, lung liver, kidney, intestinal content, from seventeen out of 71 vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) and six fetuses, as described before for other mammals. Rose Bengal Test and cELISA performed in 55 vampires sera resulted in 22 seropositive animals. Immunohistopathology revealed that the bacterium extensively replicates in vampire bat tissues, including the placenta, and causes placentitis. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) and phenotypical characterization demonstrated that these isolates represent a new classical Brucella species with clear-cut genetic markers, radiating into a distinct branch from all other species. The proposed name is B. nosferati nov. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all B. nosferati strains were closely related and clustered together with Brucella sp. BCNN84.3 strain, previously isolated from an orchiepididymitis case of dog in Costa Rica. These bacteria are pathogenic, showed M type S-LPS, and, similar to other classical smooth strains, had all the virulent arsenal. The natural behaviour of D. rotundus inhabiting tropical and subtropical areas of North, Central, and South America makes this vampire bat a potential vector of brucellosis, as it is the case of rabies and bartonellosis.References
Hernández-Mora, G., Bonilla-Montoya, R., Barrantes-Granados, O., Esquivel-Suárez, A., Montero-Caballero, D., González-Barrientos, R., et al. (2017). Brucellosis in mammals of Costa Rica: An epidemiological survey. PloS one, 12(8), e0182644. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182644