[Viruses and bats: interdisciplinary issues].

The virologists' attention to bats (Сhiroptera) changed in the late 20th century as the concept of emerging infections grew in popularity. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of publications on bat viruses has increased profoundly.History of the problem; biodiversity of Chiroptera and related viruses; medical and veterinary significance of some viral genera and subgenera (Lyssavirus, Henipavirus, Marburgvirus, Ebolavirus, Sarbecovirus, Merbecovirus), as well as problems of bat protection, are addressed in a concise form.

Lobar (croupous) pneumonia: old and new data.

Background And Aim: Pneumonia remains one of the most frequent death causes worldwide. Among the etiological factors S. pneumoniae-causing lobar pneumonia plays a leading role.

Active surveillance for antibodies confirms circulation of lyssaviruses in Palearctic bats.

Background: Palearctic bats host a diversity of lyssaviruses, though not the classical rabies virus (RABV). As surveillance for bat rabies over the Palearctic area covering Central and Eastern Europe and Siberian regions of Russia has been irregular, we lack data on geographic and seasonal patterns of the infection.

Results: To address this, we undertook serological testing, using non-lethally sampled blood, on 1027 bats of 25 species in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Slovenia between 2014 and 2018.

Fox rabies outbreaks in the republic of Buryatia: Connections with neighbouring areas of Russia, Mongolia and China.

The Republic of Buryatia (RB) is located southeast of Lake Baikal and shares a long border with Mongolia. This region of Russia was rabies-free from 1982 to 2010. The first outbreak of fox rabies in RB was identified in 2011, about 30 km from the Russian-Mongolian border.

Hibernation temperature-dependent infection intensity in Palearctic bats.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease caused by that is devastating to Nearctic bat populations but tolerated by Palearctic bats. Temperature is a factor known to be important for fungal growth and bat choice of hibernation. Here we investigated the effect of temperature on the pathogenic fungal growth in the wild across the Palearctic.

White-nose syndrome detected in bats over an extensive area of Russia.

Background: Spatiotemporal distribution patterns are important infectious disease epidemiological characteristics that improve our understanding of wild animal population health. The skin infection caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans emerged as a panzootic disease in bats of the northern hemisphere. However, the infection status of bats over an extensive geographic area of the Russian Federation has remained understudied.

Rabies in the Mongolian steppes.

Historically, rabies in Mongolia has been connected to the specific steppe and forest-steppe landscapes, known as the Mongolian steppes. The main reservoirs of the rabies virus (RABV) are the wolf, red fox and corsac fox. Fox rabies has been reported in Mongolia since the early 1960s.

Arctic and Arctic-like rabies viruses: distribution, phylogeny and evolutionary history.

Forty-one newly sequenced isolates of Arctic and Arctic-like rabies viruses, were genetically compared to each other and to those available from GenBank. Four phylogenetic lineages of Arctic viruses were identified. Arctic-1 viruses circulate in Ontario, Arctic-2 viruses circulate in Siberia and Alaska, Arctic-3 viruses circulate circumpolarly, and a newly described lineage Arctic-4 circulates locally in Alaska.

Bat rabies surveillance in the former Soviet Union.

More than 3,000 bats were examined for lyssaviruses in the territory of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) over the past 41 years (1964-2004). European bat lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1) was registered in the Ukraine and the European part of Russia. Lyssaviruses Aravan (ARAV, Kyrgyzstan, 1991), Khujand (KHUV, Tajikistan, 2001), Irkut (IRKV, Irkutsk region, 2002) and West Caucasian Bat virus (WCBV, Krasnodar region, 2002) were proposed as new lyssavirus genotypes.

The diversity of rabies virus in Russia demonstrated by anti-nucleocapsid monoclonal antibody application and limited gene sequencing.

A comparative analysis of anti-nucleocapsid monoclonal antibody (N-mAb) reaction profiles and DNA sequences was performed on 97 selected rabies virus (RABV) isolates from Russia and neighbouring states. A panel of 73 N-mAb from the Wistar Institute (Philadelphia, PA, USA), Veterinary Laboratories Agency (Weybridge, UK) and P-41 (Tübingen, Germany) was used. The sequence of a 400 bp fragment of the N gene was generated for all available isolates and a phylogenetic analysis of the fragment was carried out.

Molecular epidemiology of rabies viruses in Europe.

Several different strains of classical rabies virus co-circulate in Europe. In order to investigate the roles of the host species and topography on the molecular epidemiology of these viruses, a 400 bp region of the nucleoprotein gene was sequenced and compared with more than 500 European virus isolates. Viruses from 21 European countries were represented including some unique panels of archived isolates from the former Republic of Yugoslavia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria.

Molecular epidemiological study of Arctic rabies virus isolates from Greenland and comparison with isolates from throughout the Arctic and Baltic regions.

We report a molecular epidemiological study of rabies in Arctic countries by comparing a panel of novel Greenland isolates to a larger cohort of viral sequences from both Arctic and Baltic regions. Rabies virus isolates originating from wildlife (Arctic/red foxes, raccoon-dogs and reindeer), from domestic animals (dogs/cats) and from two human cases were investigated. The resulting 400 bp N-gene sequences were compared with isolates representing neighbouring Arctic or Baltic countries from North America, the former Soviet Union and Europe.

Phylogenetic relationships of Irkut and West Caucasian bat viruses within the Lyssavirus genus and suggested quantitative criteria based on the N gene sequence for lyssavirus genotype definition.

The nucleoprotein (N), phosphoprotein (P) and glycoprotein (G) genes of Irkut and West Caucasian bat viruses (WCBV) were sequenced and compared with those of other lyssaviruses. N gene nucleotide identities provided unequivocal separation of all lyssavirus genotypes with an identity threshold of 82%. On this basis, Irkut virus should be considered as a new genotype with particular relatedness to genotypes 4 and 5 (78.

Molecular epidemiology of terrestrial rabies in the former Soviet Union.

Fifty-five rabies virus isolates originating from different regions of the former Soviet Union (FSU) were compared with isolates originating from Eurasia, Africa, and North America according to complete or partial nucleoprotein (N) gene sequences. The FSU isolates formed five distinct groups. Group A represented viruses originating from the Arctic, which were similar to viruses from Alaska and Canada.

Novel lyssaviruses isolated from bats in Russia.

Two new rabies-related viruses were discovered in Russia during 2002. Viruses were isolated from bats in Eastern Siberia near Baikal Lake and in the western Caucasus Mountains. After preliminary antigenic and genetic characterization, we found that both viruses should be considered as new putative lyssavirus genotypes.

New lyssavirus genotype from the Lesser Mouse-eared Bat (Myotis blythi), Kyrghyzstan.

The Aravan virus was isolated from a Lesser Mouse-eared Bat (Myotis blythi) in the Osh region of Kyrghyzstan, central Asia, in 1991. We determined the complete sequence of the nucleoprotein (N) gene and compared it with those of 26 representative lyssaviruses obtained from databases. The Aravan virus was distinguished from seven distinct genotypes on the basis of nucleotide and amino acid identity.

[Zoonotic infections in the central and southern ulusy of the Republic of Sakha].

The serological survey of humans, as well as agricultural animals and rodents, for the presence of zoonotic infections, was carried out. Local inhabitants were shown to have contacts with the causative agents of pseudotuberculosis, enteric yersiniosis, tularemia, leptospirosis, Q fever, tick-borne rickettsiosis, chlamydiosis, toxoplasmosis. The immune stratum with respect to enteric yersiniosis was found to have a greater index, while the immune strata with respect to chlamydiosis, Q fever, pseudotuberculosis had the least indices.

[Comparative data on the tick-borne encephalitis virus infectiousness of hungry and satiated taiga ticks (based on the results of an immunoenzyme analysis)].

The results of individual investigation of 25,500 Ixodes persulcatus ticks from east Siberia are presented. The ticks were collected from grass, men, and animals before their sticking and after feeding at different intervals. The quantity of positive specimens was 6-11 times higher among the fed ticks hungry ones and averaged 10.

[The distribution of tick-borne encephalitis virus-infected ticks along a linear census route].

An individual study of Ixodes persulcatus Schulze, 1930, established that the distribution of infected ticks differs from the normal distribution and it is most close to the Poisson distribution. There is a tendency to deviation from the uniform-random distribution associated with higher infected tick contact rates in some parts of the route.

[Experimental lyssavirus infection in chiropters].

Insectivorous bats, Pipistrellus pipistrellus in the active stage and hibernation were inoculated with bat unclassified Lyssavirus Aravan and Lyssavirus serotypes 1 and 4. The influence of hibernation on the duration of the incubation period and the distribution of viruses in extraneural tissues was demonstrated. Clinical symptoms of the diseases caused by different strains are described.

[New data on the spread of P-41-positive strains of the rabies virus in arctic and extra-arctic regions].

271 strains of rabies virus, isolated in different regions of the former USSR, were studied with the use of monoclonal antibodies P-41 (Germany). All strains isolated in the arctic regions, as well as some of the strains isolated in nonarctic regions situated 300-1700 km south of the polar circle (the Baltic countries, Central Yakutia, the eastern part of the Transbaikal region), gave positive reaction with these antibodies. Cases of hydrophobia caused by virus with the 41 (+) marker were described.

[A lyssavirus with an unusual antigenic structure isolated from a bat in southern Kyrgyzstan].

Examination of 191 specimens of Chiroptera in Osh Province of Kyrgyzstan yielded 1 strain of lyssavirus from Myotis blythi, the isolate not belonging to serotype 1. The virus was designated Aravan by the area of its isolation. Its antigenic structure was studied using antinucleocapsid monoclonal antibodies of the Wistar Institute (Philadelphia, ISA) and Central Veterinary Laboratory of Great Britain (Waybridge, Great Britain).

[The experimental infection of bats with lyssavirus serotypes 1 and 4].

The results of intramuscular inoculation of 111 bats (Myotis daubentoni, Myotis brandtii) with three strains of Lyssaviruses--Yuli, Stade, and 1150 are presented. Bats were found to have low susceptibility, especially to strains of serotype 4. After infection with serotype 4 viruses, fewer bats died but within shorter periods than after infection with serotype 1.

[The results of using direct solid-phase immunoenzyme analysis for assessing the specific activity of rabies vaccines].

The effectiveness of the solid-phase enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in the determination of the specific activity of rabies vaccines is evaluated in comparison with that of the protective test in mice. Inactivated tissue-culture, concentrated tissue-culture and purified cerebral tissue vaccines for human use were studied. The methods for performing two EIA variants and evaluating the results are described.