Diseases and Causes of Death in European Bats: Dynamics in Disease Susceptibility and Infection Rates

Bats receive increasing attention in infectious disease studies, because of their well recognized status as reservoir species for various infectious agents. This is even more important, as bats with their capability of long distance dispersal and complex social structures are unique in the way microbes could be spread by these mammalian species. Nevertheless, infection studies in bats are predominantly limited to the identification of specific pathogens presenting a potential health threat to humans. But the impact of infectious agents on the individual host and their importance on bat mortality is largely unknown and has been neglected in most studies published to date.) were collected in different geographic regions in Germany. Most animals represented individual cases that have been incidentally found close to roosting sites or near human habitation in urban and urban-like environments. The bat carcasses were subjected to a post-mortem examination and investigated histo-pathologically, bacteriologically and virologically. Trauma and disease represented the most important causes of death in these bats. Comparative analysis of pathological findings and microbiological results show that microbial agents indeed have an impact on bats succumbing to infectious diseases, with fatal bacterial, viral and parasitic infections found in at least 12% of the bats investigated.Our data demonstrate the importance of diseases and infectious agents as cause of death in European bat species. The clear seasonal and individual variations in disease prevalence and infection rates indicate that maternity colonies are more susceptible to infectious agents, underlining the possible important role of host physiology, immunity and roosting behavior as risk factors for infection of bats

Comparison of sputum microbiome of legionellosis-associated patients and other pneumonia patients: indications for polybacterial infections.

Bacteria of the genus Legionella cause water-based infections resulting in severe pneumonia. Here we analyze and compare the bacterial microbiome of sputum samples from pneumonia patients in relation to the presence and abundance of the genus Legionella. The prevalence of Legionella species was determined by culture, PCR, and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). Nine sputum samples out of the 133 analyzed were PCR-positive using Legionella genus-specific primers. Only one sample was positive by culture. Illumina MiSeq 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses of Legionella-positive and Legionella-negative sputum samples, confirmed that indeed, Legionella was present in the PCR-positive sputum samples. This approach allowed the identification of the sputum microbiome at the genus level, and for Legionella genus at the species and sub-species level. 42% of the sputum samples were dominated by Streptococcus. Legionella was never the dominating genus and was always accompanied by other respiratory pathogens. Interestingly, sputum samples that were Legionella positive were inhabited by aquatic bacteria that have been observed in an association with amoeba, indicating that amoeba might have transferred Legionella from the drinking water together with its microbiome. This is the first study that demonstrates the sputum major bacterial commensals and pathogens profiles with regard to Legionella presence

Genetic testign of familial hypercholesterolemia : monogenic form and polygenic contribution to cardiovascular risk

International audienc

Isolation and Characterization of Three Mammalian Orthoreoviruses from European Bats

<div><p>In recent years novel human respiratory disease agents have been described in South East Asia and Australia. The causative pathogens were classified as pteropine orthoreoviruses with strong phylogenetic relationship to orthoreoviruses of flying foxes inhabiting these regions. Subsequently, a zoonotic bat-to-human transmission has been assumed. We report the isolation of three novel mammalian orthoreoviruses (MRVs) from European bats, comprising bat-borne orthoreovirus outside of South East Asia and Australia and moreover detected in insectivorous bats (<em>Microchiroptera</em>). MRVs are well known to infect a broad range of mammals including man. Although they are associated with rather mild and clinically unapparent infections in their hosts, there is growing evidence of their ability to also induce more severe illness in dogs and man. In this study, eight out of 120 vespertilionid bats proved to be infected with one out of three novel MRV isolates, with a distinct organ tropism for the intestine. One isolate was analyzed by 454 genome sequencing. The obtained strain T3/Bat/Germany/342/08 had closest phylogenetic relationship to MRV strain T3D/04, isolated from a dog. These novel reoviruses provide a rare chance of gaining insight into possible transmission events and of tracing the evolution of bat viruses.</p> </div

Summary of the molecular biological and histopathologic results of vespertilionid bats found positive for orthoreoviruses.

<p>m, male; f, female; −, none; +, mild; ++, moderate; +++, severe (degree of severity);</p>*<p>per ml of homogenized organ tissue (average size of tissue piece 8 mm³).</p

Phylogenetic tree containing the three novel isolates.

<p>Phylogenetic (Bayesian) analysis of T3/Bat/Germany/342/08, Bat MRV 019/09 and Bat MRV 021/09, using free-end alignments of nucleotide sequences of the partial L1 segments of multiple orthoreovirus species. Posterior probability values are depicted. Strains T3/Bat/Germany/342/08, Bat MRV019/09 and Bat MRV021/09 are shown in magenta and bold. Scale bar shows the evolutionary distance of 0.3 nt substitutions per position. The calculations were unrooted, but for visualization the species <i>reptilian orthoreovirus</i> was used as an outgroup.</p

Overview: Orthoreovirus strains isolated from or associated with bats.

<p>Overview: Orthoreovirus strains isolated from or associated with bats.</p

Sequence homology in percent between three novel orthoreovirus strains.

<p>Based on sequences (197 nt) revealed by nested PCR amplification, targeting the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene. Accession numbers: JQ412755, JQ412765 and JQ412766.</p