Occurrence of Eptesipox Virus in Big Brown Bats

Date

2016-04

Authors

Tipton, Craig
Ammerman, Loren

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Abstract

The recently described pathogen, Eptesipox virus, was first reported in 2013 based on 6 Big Brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Washington state. These individuals suffered from joint swelling and were euthanized after failed treatments. The novel virus was characterized as a poxvirus by researchers associated with the Centers for Disease Control which led to a real-time PCR protocol being developed for detecting the virus. Although Eptesipox is not thought to be pathogenic to humans, it does represent a poorly understood threat to Eptesicus populations. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the occurrence and distribution of this virus, which could encompass the known range of the Big Brown bat. We acquired 36 tissue samples archived in the Angelo State Natural History Collection for testing. We report that the samples are negative for Eptesipox based on PCR when run concurrently with a positive control. This work could suggest that these infections are localized to the Northwestern part of the Eptesicus fuscus range, but additional sampling is desired to develop a stronger argument.

Description

This document contains a digital copy of the bilingual friendly poster presentation given at the ASU Undergraduate Symposium and the annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists meeting in spring of 2016.

Keywords

Eptesipox Virus Prevalence Big Brown bats Eptesicus fuscus

Citation