Active surveillance of bat rabies in France: A 5-year study (2004–2009)

Active surveillance of bats in France started in 2004 with an analysis of 18 of the 45 bat species reported in Europe. Rabies antibodies were detected in six indigenous species, mainly in Eptesicus serotinus and Myotis myotis, suggesting previous contact with the EBLV-1 rabies virus. Nineteen of the 177 tested bats were shown serologically positive in seven sites, particularly in central and south-western France. Neither infectious viral particles nor viral genomes were detected in 173 and 308 tested oral swabs, respectively. The presence of neutralising antibodies in female bats (18.6%) was significantly higher than in males (5.6%)

Eliminating Rabies in Estonia

The compulsory vaccination of pets, the recommended vaccination of farm animals in grazing areas and the extermination of stray animals did not succeed in eliminating rabies in Estonia because the virus was maintained in two main wildlife reservoirs, foxes and raccoon dogs. These two species became a priority target therefore in order to control rabies. Supported by the European Community, successive oral vaccination (OV) campaigns were conducted twice a year using Rabigen® SAG2 baits, beginning in autumn 2005 in North Estonia. They were then extended to the whole territory from spring 2006. Following the vaccination campaigns, the incidence of rabies cases dramatically decreased, with 266 cases in 2005, 114 in 2006, four in 2007 and three in 2008. Since March 2008, no rabies cases have been detected in Estonia other than three cases reported in summer 2009 and one case in January 2011, all in areas close to the South-Eastern border with Russia. The bait uptake was satisfactory, with tetracycline positivity rates ranging from 85% to 93% in foxes and from 82% to 88% in raccoon dogs. Immunisation rates evaluated by ELISA ranged from 34% to 55% in foxes and from 38% to 55% in raccoon dogs. The rabies situation in Estonia was compared to that of the other two Baltic States, Latvia and Lithuania. Despite regular OV campaigns conducted throughout their territory since 2006, and an improvement in the epidemiological situation, rabies has still not been eradicated in these countries. An analysis of the number of baits distributed and the funding allocated by the European Commission showed that the strategy for rabies control is more cost-effective in Estonia than in Latvia and Lithuania

Motion planning and control from temporal logic specifications with probabilistic satisfaction guarantees

Abstract — We present a computational framework for auto-matic deployment of a robot from a temporal logic specification over a set of properties of interest satisfied at the regions of a partitioned environment. We assume that, during the motion of the robot in the environment, the current region can be precisely determined, while due to sensor and actuation noise, the out-come of a control action can only be predicted probabilistically. Under these assumptions, the deployment problem translates to generating a control strategy for a Markov Decision Process (MDP) from a temporal logic formula. We propose an algorithm inspired from probabilistic Computation Tree Logic (PCTL) model checking to find a control strategy that maximizes the probability of satisfying the specification. We illustrate our method with simulation and experimental results. I

External Reference Samples for Residual Stress Analysis by X-Ray Diffraction

International audienceThe GFAC (French Association for residual stress analysis) has been working for several years on external reference samples in relation with the EN 15305-2009 standard. The purpose of this campaign is to provide an external reference sample to each laboratory involved in the round-robin to allow a good calibration, a good quality control of their X-ray diffraction system and an easiest way to compare results between laboratories. All the procedures to qualify external reference materials will be described in the paper

Detection of lyssavirus antigen and antibody levels among apparently healthy and suspected rabid dogs in South-Eastern Nigeria

Additional file 1. Geographical location of South Eastern Nigeria and the States involved in the study. Map of the study area

Longitudinal survey of two serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) maternity colonies exposed to EBLV-1 (European Bat Lyssavirus type 1): Assessment of survival and serological status variations using capture-recapture models.

This study describes two longitudinal serological surveys of European Bat Lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1) antibodies in serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) maternity colonies located in the North-East of France. This species is currently considered as the main EBLV-1 reservoir. Multievent capture-recapture models were used to determine the factors influencing bat rabies transmission as this method accounts for imperfect detection and uncertainty in disease states. Considering the period of study, analyses revealed that survival and recapture probabilities were not affected by the serological status of individuals, confirming the capacity of bats to be exposed to lyssaviruses without dying. Five bats have been found with EBLV-1 RNA in the saliva at the start of the study, suggesting they were caught during virus excretion period. Among these bats, one was interestingly recaptured one year later and harbored a seropositive status. Along the survey, some others bats have been observed to both seroconvert (i.e. move from a negative to a positive serological status) and serorevert (i.e. move from a positive to a negative serological status). Peak of seroprevalence reached 34% and 70% in site A and B respectively. On one of the 2 sites, global decrease of seroprevalence was observed all along the study period nuanced by oscillation intervals of approximately 2-3 years supporting the oscillation infection dynamics hypothesized during a previous EBLV-1 study in a Myotis myotis colony. Seroprevalence were affected by significantly higher seroprevalence in summer than in spring. The maximum time observed between successive positive serological statuses of a bat demonstrated the potential persistence of neutralizing antibodies for at least 4 years. At last, EBLV-1 serological status transitions have been shown driven by age category with higher seroreversion frequencies in adults than in juvenile. Juveniles and female adults seemed indeed acting as distinct drivers of the rabies virus dynamics, hypothesis have been addressed but their exact role in the EBLV-1 transmission still need to be specified