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Earlier this year, Tony Fooks and colleagues described how, under a laboratory twinning project run by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the UK's OIE Reference Laboratory for rabies, based at the APHA in Weybridge, had been working with the Changchun Veterinary Research Institute in the People's Republic of China to help the institute develop into an OIE Reference Laboratory itself (VR, March 5, 2016, vol 178, pp 231-232). Now, the APHA is taking part in a further three-year project to build rabies diagnosis capability in Bangalore, India, as he and his colleagues explain below.

DUE to the presence of European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2) in British bats, the APHA continues to test dead bats submitted by veterinary surgeons, the Bat Conservation Trust and members of the public. Most bat species in the British Isles are not associated with infection with lyssaviruses, although identification of individual species can be difficult (Banyard and others 2011). All bat species are protected by law and should not be disturbed. Further advice can be obtained from the Bat Conservation Trust (www.bats.org.uk/) or the UK government's website (www.gov.uk/guidance/rabies-in-bats). In August 2016, two bats that had been found at sites in the north of England tested positive for EBLV-2. The first bat was found by two members of the public on August 5 in west Yorkshire. The bat was alive but showed signs of being undernourished and dehydrated. It was offered milk formula and mealworms, but subsequently died in captivity on August 8 and was received for testing at the APHA on …

In 2009, the UK's OIE Reference Laboratory for rabies, based at the APHA in Weybridge, was awarded a project to twin with the Changchun Veterinary Research Institute in the People's Republic of China to help the institute develop the skills and methods necessary to become an OIE Reference Laboratory itself. Here, Tony Fooks, Trevor Drew and Changchun Tu describe the OIE's twinning project and the success that has since been realised in China.

COLLEAGUES may be aware that a small number of human cases of acute kidney injury associated with hantavirus infection has been recorded in individuals who recreationally or occupationally handle rats in the UK. The UK public health authorities continue to investigate these cases in collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Pet rats (including ‘fancy rats’), breeder rats and wild rats have been identified as the potential source of infection. The human cases had documented exposure to rats resulting in the probable transmission of the rat-associated hantavirus, Seoul virus (SEOV). Hantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus ) are single-stranded RNA viruses. Unlike other members of the Bunyaviridae, hantaviruses are not transmitted by arthropods but are predominantly transmitted by rodents. Throughout Europe, six rodent-borne hantaviruses have been described, of …

COLLEAGUES may be aware of a human case report of infection with Seoul hantavirus in the UK. The probable source of infection was linked to the patient's two pet rats (Jameson and others 2013b). Hantaviruses are a group of rodent-borne viruses with a worldwide distribution, which may be transmitted to people through exposure to the urine, saliva and faeces of infected rodents. Several viruses of this group are zoonotic. The Old World hantaviruses cause multisystem disease with a focus on renal failure (haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome [HFRS]) and those associated with the New World cause multisystem disease with a focus on the lungs (hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome [HCPS], also known as acute respiratory distress syndrome). HCPS is responsible for an estimated 11 to 48 human …

The geographical range of many arboviruses is expanding, with viruses of the genus Flavivirus comprising some of the most widely reported examples. Most concerning is the ability of these viruses to evolve rapidly to exploit new ecological niches, leading to large-scale disease outbreaks (Vazquez and others 2011). Usutu virus (USUV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that illustrates this changing threat. When USUV was first isolated from mosquitoes ( Culex univittatus ) in South Africa in 1959 it was not associated with disease in animals or humans (Vazquez and others 2011). However, when USUV emerged in Austria in 2001 it caused seasonal epidemic mortality of blackbirds ( Turdus merula ) that continued into the summers of 2002 and 2003 (Chvala and others 2007). Subsequent spread of USUV associated with wild and captive bird mortality, has occurred in continental Europe, with a northward-range expansion to southwest Germany in 2011 (reviewed by Becker and others 2012). USUV has also been associated with human disease, confirming its zoonotic potential (reviewed by Vazquez and others 2011). This rapid spread, combined with the public and animal health implications, highlights the need for vigilance for this virus. Mosquito species involved in USUV outbreaks in Europe are present in the UK (Medlock and others 2005) but minimal surveillance for USUV has been undertaken. Serological evidence for exposure to USUV in British birds was reported in 2001–2002 (Buckley and others 2003), but no virus was isolated and no associated bird mortality was reported. In a random sample of 160 bird brains collected …

WEST Nile virus (wnv) is an arbovirus of the genus Flavivirus (family Flaviviridae), which is transmitted and amplified in enzootic cycles between avian hosts and many species of mosquito vectors ([Higgs and others 2004][1]). At least 59 mosquito species have been identified as vectors for wnv

S. L. Harris, BSc, PhD, K. Mansfield, BSc, D. A. Marston, BSc, N. Johnson, BSc, PhD, K. Pajamo, BSc, N. O’Brien, BSc, MSc, C. Black, L. M. McElhinney, BSc, MSc, PhD, A. R. Fooks, BSc, MBA, PhD, CBiol, FiBiol, Rabies and Wildlife Zoonoses Group, WHO Collaborating Centre for the Characterisation of Rabies and Rabiesrelated Viruses, Veterinary Laboratories Agency – Weybridge, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB

A quantitative risk assessment was developed to assist in the policy decision to amend the long-standing quarantine laws for dogs and cats from North America.

After being vaccinated against rabies some cats and dogs fail to show an antibody titre adequate to meet the requirements of the UK Pet Travel Scheme. To investigate this problem, the data derived from 16,073 serum samples submitted to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency for serological testing between 1999 and 2002, 1002 samples submitted to BioBest during March and April 2001, and 1264 samples associated with one make of vaccine submitted to BioBest between June 2001 and January 2003, were analysed. The probability of antibody titre failing to reach at least 0.5 iu/ml was analysed by logistic regression as a function of the choice of vaccine, the interval between vaccination and sampling, the sex and age of the animal, and its country of origin. In dogs, all these factors, except sex, had highly significant (P

European bat lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2) has been isolated once previously from a bat in the UK in June 1996. In September 2002, a Daubenton9s bat (Myotis daubentonif) found in Lancashire developed abnormal behaviour, including unprovoked aggression, while it was in captivity. Brain samples from the bat were tested for virus of the Lyssavirus genus, which includes EBLV-2 (genotype 6), and classical rabies virus (genotype 1). A positive fluorescent antibody test confirmed that it was infected with a lyssavirus, and PCR and genomic sequencing identified the virus as an EBLV-2a. Phylogenetic comparisons with all the published sequences from genotype 6 showed that it was closely related to the previous isolate of EBLV-2 in the UK and suggested links to isolates from bats in the Netherlands. The isolation of EBLV-2 from a bat found on the west coast of England provides evidence that this virus may be present within the UK Daubenton9s bat population at a low prevalence level.