Experimental infection of Artibeus lituratus bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guyana, Peru, and Costa Rica, suggest a limited role of bats in Zika transmission
Authors: Aguilar-Setién Alvaro , Rojas Mónica Salas , Gálvez Romero Guillermo , Marín Cenia Almazán , Soto Andrés Moreira , Alfonso-Toledo Jorge , Moralesn Cirani Obregón , García Flores Martha , Baltazar Anahí García , Serra-Cobo Jordi , López-Roig Marc , Puma Nora Reyes , Piche-Ovares Marta , Romero-Vega Mario , Barrantes Murillo Daniel Felipe , Soto-Garita Claudio , Alarcón Alejandro Alfaro , Corrales-Aguilar Eugenia , López-Díaz Osvaldo , Drexler Felix 
Published: May 2022

Bats are important natural reservoir hosts of a diverse range of viruses that can be transmitted to humans and have been suggested that could play an important role in the Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission cycle. However, the exact role of these animals as reservoirs for Flaviviruses is still controversial. To further expand our understanding of the role of bats in the ZIKV transmission cycle in Latin America, we carried an experimental infection in wild-caught Artibeus bats and sampled several free-living neotropical bats over three countries of the region. Experimental ZIKV infection was made in free-ranging adult bats (4 females and 5 males). The most relevant gross findings were hemorrhages in the bladder, stomach and patagium. Significant histological findings included inflammatory infiltrate consisting of a predominance of neutrophils and lymphocytes, in addition to degeneration in the reproductive tract of males and females. This suggests that bat reproduction might be at some level affected by ZIKV. Leukopenia was also observed in some inoculated animals. Hemorrhages, genital alterations, and leukopenia are suggestive to be caused by ZIKV, however, since these are wild-caught bats, we can not exclude other agents. Excretion of ZIKV by qPCR was detected (low titles) in only two urine samples in two inoculated animals. All other animals and tissues tested negative. Finally, no virus-neutralizing Abs were found in any animal. To determine ZIKV infection in nature, a total of 2056 bats were blood sampled for ZIKV detection by qPCR. Most of the sampled individuals belonged to the genus Pteronotus sp. (23%), followed by the species Carollia sp. (17%); Anoura sp. (14%), and Molossus sp. (13.7 %). No sample of any tested species resulted positive to ZIKV by qPCR.

These results together suggest that bats are not efficient amplifiers or reservoirs of ZIKV and may not have an important role in ZIKV transmission dynamics.

Author summary

In previous works made in 2008-2009, we have found the presence of antibodies against Flaviviruses and viral RNA has been detected in Neotropical chiropterans of Mexico, which led us to support the hypothesis that these animals could be reservoirs of Flaviviruses. As controversial opinions have been exposed, and based on a previous (2019) experimental ZIKV infection made in Colorado State University using adult Artibeus males from a captive colony, in this work we also experimentally infected adult Artibeus males complementarily adding females and using free-living animals instead of laboratory bats. We also monitored a diverse range of natural bat populations in Latin America for the presence of viral RNA against ZIKV in blood. A plaque reduction seroneutralization test was used for the detection of antibodies against ZIKV. Similar to the previous work, we found histopathological alteration in male testicles but also in ovaries and oviducts of females, as well as gliosis and multifocal necrosis in pyramidal neurons and Purkinge cells of inoculated animals. Only two urine samples from inoculated animals showed viral RNA. Additionally, leukopenia and lymphoid follicular splenic hyperplasia were evidenced. Differing to what was reported, no neutralizing antibodies against ZIKV were detected in any sample. Viral RNA within the blood was not present in any of the 2056 bat samples collected in French Guyana, Peru and Costa Rica and proceeding from 33 bat genera. These results together suggest that bats are not efficient amplifiers or reservoirs of ZIKV and might not have an important role on ZIKV transmission dynamics.