1) Why does rabies have a predeliction for bats? Is it their social habits, or some biological reason?
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
pesce.del.giorno said:
1) Why does rabies have a predeliction for bats? Is it their social habits, or some biological reason?
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
See this site for some, but not all, the info. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131133323.htm
pesce.del.giorno said:
1) Why does rabies have a predeliction for bats? Is it their social habits, or some biological reason?
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
1) It doesn’t.
2) Vector species. It is, depending.
poikilotherm said:
pesce.del.giorno said:1) Why does rabies have a predeliction for bats? Is it their social habits, or some biological reason?
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
1) It doesn’t.
2) Vector species. It is, depending.
reliance for survival is leaving the host before it dies.
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
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Killing all the hosts…
Mr Ironic said:
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
————————————————————————————Killing all the hosts…
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/11/scientists-find-new-super-strain-hiv-20131128194915726211.html
Killing all the hosts…
it hasn’t stopped humans destroying the planet, killing the host is sometimes all part of the plan.
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I’ll try again.
It’s like the Borg…
pesce.del.giorno said:
1) Why does rabies have a predilection for bats? Is it their social habits, or some biological reason?
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
1) It affects all warm-blooded animals, not just humans, bats and dogs. The worst concentration of rabies in the world today is in India, and the greatest danger is still being bitten by a dog (95% of cases). It’s still a major killer of people, rabies causes about 55,000 human deaths annually worldwide. The only rabies-free countries are Australian, New Zealand, Japan, and small parts of northern Europe and South America. Australia has a bat lyssavirus similar to rabies. “In some countries, such as those in western Europe and Oceania, rabies is considered to be prevalent among bat populations only.” I take this to be because bats travel more widely than other mammal species. In the USA, most transmission to humans is due to bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes.
2) According to one website “All lyssaviruses cause invariably fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in mammals.” No species is known to be unaffected. Yes, killing the host is a very poor strategy, so I’m surprised that there isn’t a reservoir of non-lethal rabies somewhere. The lyssavirus causes overproduction of saliva which aids transmission, that and the huge range of species affected probably accounts for its survival.
mollwollfumble said:
pesce.del.giorno said:1) Why does rabies have a predilection for bats? Is it their social habits, or some biological reason?
2) Since it is rapidly fatal to the host, how does the virus survive? It was my impression that killing the host was a poor strategy for a virus.
1) It affects all warm-blooded animals, not just humans, bats and dogs. The worst concentration of rabies in the world today is in India, and the greatest danger is still being bitten by a dog (95% of cases). It’s still a major killer of people, rabies causes about 55,000 human deaths annually worldwide. The only rabies-free countries are Australian, New Zealand, Japan, and small parts of northern Europe and South America. Australia has a bat lyssavirus similar to rabies. “In some countries, such as those in western Europe and Oceania, rabies is considered to be prevalent among bat populations only.” I take this to be because bats travel more widely than other mammal species. In the USA, most transmission to humans is due to bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes.
2) According to one website “All lyssaviruses cause invariably fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in mammals.” No species is known to be unaffected. Yes, killing the host is a very poor strategy, so I’m surprised that there isn’t a reservoir of non-lethal rabies somewhere. The lyssavirus causes overproduction of saliva which aids transmission, that and the huge range of species affected probably accounts for its survival.
It certainly does not affect all warm-blooded animals equally. Birds, for instance, have only been known to be infected experimentally. Small rodents such as mice or rats are seldom affected. In some countries (Western Europe and USA) it is predominantly in bats. I wonder why this species predilection? I thought it may have been the social habits of the various species, namely, living in close knit communities and biting and scratching each other frequently, but I don’t think this is the answer.