engleski

Virome of Croatian bat populations

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) continue to arise. Approximately 60–80% of them is zoonotic and presents a great public health threat worldwide. More than 70% of EIDs are wildlife-borne. With almost global distribution bats are increasingly recognized as source of EIDs, particularly those caused by RNA viruses. The increase in human population, environmental destruction and agriculture intensification lead to crossing the roads between bats and humans with possible pathogen spillover. Accordingly, the understanding of the virome present in wildlife is very important for the prevention and control of wildlife-borne EIDs. Numerous studies have focused on zoonotic bat viruses in tropics, but little is known about the presence of such viruses in European bats. The only known zoonotic disease associated with bats in Europe is rabies. The main goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of rabies in Croatian bat species through serological and virological survey of captured bats. Furthermore, by using metagenomic approach we were also focused on detection of other viruses, especially those with zoonotic potential.

bats, Croatia, EBLV-1, virome, NGS

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