Towards Development of an Anti-Vampire Bat Vaccine for Rabies Management: Inoculation of Vampire Bat Saliva Induces Immune-Mediated Resistance.

The common vampire bat () is a hematophagous species responsible for paralytic rabies and bite damage that affects livestock, humans and wildlife from Mexico to Argentina. Current measures to control vampires, based upon coumarin-derived poisons, are not used extensively due in part to the high cost of application, risks for bats that share roosts with vampires and residual environmental contamination. Observations that vampire bat bites may induce resistance in livestock against vampire bat salivary anticoagulants encourage research into novel vaccine-based alternatives particularly focused upon increasing livestock resistance to vampire salivary components.

Reproductive seasonality, sex ratio and philopatry in Argentina's common vampire bats.

Common vampire bats () are a key rabies vector in South America. Improved management of this species requires long-term, region-specific information. To investigate patterns of demography and dispersal, we analysed 13 642 captures of common vampire bats in Northern Argentina from the period 1969-2004.