ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF RABIES VIRUS IN BATS IN EGYPT

Rabies vaccination campaigns target foxes, dogs, cats, and other carnivores as potential disease carriers. Otherwise, without immunization, animals such as cattle, donkeys, and bats coexist with carnivores and other domestic animals. A dead cat and 250 deceased Egyptian tomb bats (Taphozous perforatus) were examined in this study. N-gene-specific primers were used in RT-PCR to detect the rabies virus. Rabies virus is confirmed by immunofluorescence, histopathology, and Baby hamster kidney cells (BHK-21) propagation. The incomplete sequence of the rabies genome's (N) gene was also sequenced using 720 bp PCR fragments. It may be easier for the virus to spread from bat tissue to carnivores by hunting or even by feeding on recently dead bats, as evidenced by the isolation of rabies from bats and evidence of feeding on contaminated beetles, ticks, and other arthropods contaminated with the saliva of rabid animals. Indeed, the study reports the isolation and characterization of the rabies virus from Egyptian tomb bats (T. perforatus) in Egypt. To our knowledge, this is the first report of rabies detection in bats in Egypt. Keywords: Bat, Cat, Rabies virus.