Effects of culling vampire bats on the spatial spread and spillover of rabies virus

Viana, M. et al. (2023) Effects of culling vampire bats on the spatial spread and spillover of rabies virus. Science Advances, 9(10), eadd7437. (doi: 10.1126/sciadv.add7437) (PMID:36897949) (PMCID:PMC10005164)

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Abstract

Controlling pathogen circulation in wildlife reservoirs is notoriously challenging. In Latin America, vampire bats have been culled for decades in hopes of mitigating lethal rabies infections in humans and livestock. Whether culls reduce or exacerbate rabies transmission remains controversial. Using Bayesian state-space models, we show that a 2-year, spatially extensive bat cull in an area of exceptional rabies incidence in Peru failed to reduce spillover to livestock, despite reducing bat population density. Viral whole genome sequencing and phylogeographic analyses further demonstrated that culling before virus arrival slowed viral spatial spread, but reactive culling accelerated spread, suggesting that culling-induced changes in bat dispersal promoted viral invasions. Our findings question the core assumptions of density-dependent transmission and localized viral maintenance that underlie culling bats as a rabies prevention strategy and provide an epidemiological and evolutionary framework to understand the outcomes of interventions in complex wildlife disease systems.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme grant 852957 (MV); Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship grant 217221/Z/19/Z (A.B., J.B., and D.G.S.); Sir Henry Dale Fellowship, jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society, grant 102507/Z/13/Z (J.A.B., A.B., and D.G.S.); Medical Research Council grant MC_UU_12014/12 (A.d.S.F. and R.O.)
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Streicker, Professor Daniel and Matthiopoulos, Professor Jason and Benavides, Dr Julio and Viana, Dr Mafalda and Da Silva Filipe, Dr Ana and Orton, Dr Richard and Bone, Jordan
Creator Roles:
Viana, M.Formal analysis, Visualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Benavides, J.Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – review and editing
Bone, J.Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Da Silva Filipe, A.Investigation, Writing – review and editing
Orton, R.Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review and editing
Matthiopoulos, J.Formal analysis, Supervision, Writing – review and editing
Streicker, D.Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Authors: Viana, M., Benavides, J. A., Broos, A., Ibañez z Loayza, D., Niño, R., Bone, J., Da Silva Filipe, A., Orton, R., Valderrama Bazan, W., Matthiopoulos, J., and Streicker, D. G.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity > Centre for Virus Research
Journal Name:Science Advances
Publisher:American Association for the Advancement of Science
ISSN:2375-2548
ISSN (Online):2375-2548
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2023 The Authors
First Published:First published in Science Advances 9:eadd7437
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
305702Towards malaria elimination: destabilizing shrinking mosquito populationsMafalda VianaEuropean Research Council (ERC)852957Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
307106Epidemiology meets biotechnology: preventing viral emergence from batsDaniel StreickerWellcome Trust (WELLCOTR)217221/Z/19/ZInstitute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
169793Managing viral emergence at the interface of bats and livestockDaniel StreickerWellcome Trust (WELLCOTR)102507/Z/13/ZRInstitute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
172630015Cross-Cutting Programme - Viral Genomics and Bioinformatics (Programme 9)Andrew DavisonMedical Research Council (MRC)MC_UU_12014/12III - Centre for Virus Research