Terrestrial animal-derived rabies virus in a juvenile Indian flying fox in Sri Lanka.

Unlike the bats of New World, Old World bats are not considered to transmit rabies virus (RABV). Two RABV variants are circulating in Sri Lanka; one variant is circulating in dogs and other animals. The other variant has been identified in a wild civet. There is possibility that other variants are also circulating among the wild animals in Sri Lanka. Therefore we performed molecular characterization of the RABVs present in Sri Lankan wild animals. Samples from wild animals, dogs, cats and humans with suspected rabies submitted at the Department of Rabies Diagnosis and Research, Medical Research Institute (MRI), Colombo, Sri Lanka were used in this study. We identified a RABV in a Sri Lankan bat known as Indian flying fox (Pteropus medius). Phylogenetic analysis of the N gene showed that the RABV from the bat formed a separate phylogenetic lineage in the Sri Lankan RABV group. RABVs in this lineage come from wild animals only and possess three nucleotide substitutions compared with others. This result indicates that Old World bats may be infected with RABV and therefore further studies are needed.