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Article: Lagos bat virus, South Africa.
- Article from:
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Three more isolates of Lagos bat virus were recently recovered from fruit bats in South Africa after an apparent absence of this virus for 13 years. The sporadic occurrence of cases is likely due to inadequate surveillance programs for lyssavirus infections among bat populations in Africa.
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Since 2003, we have embarked on a passive surveillance study to collect and identify bats with neurologic disease signs that may indicate encephalitis due to lyssavirus infection. Consequently, 3 new cases of Lagos bat virus (LBV) infection in fruit bats were identified in South Africa, 1 each in 2003, 2004, and 2005. LBV is a member of the Lyssavirus genus ...