Volume 14, Number 8—August 2008
Dispatch
Henipavirus Infection in Fruit Bats (Pteropus giganteus), India
, Vibhu Prakash†, Craig S. Smith‡, Peter Daszak*, Amanda B. McLaughlin§, Greer Meehan¶, Hume E. Field‡, and Andrew A. Cunningham#Table
ELISA and SNT results and univariate associations between serostatus and other variables for wild-caught Pteropus giganteus bats in India*
| Characteristic | ELISA | SNT | NiV SNT comparisons,
p value† | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. NiV reactive/ no. tested | No. HeV reactive/ no. tested | No. NiV positive/total (%)
[median titer; range] | |||
| Total | 26/41 | 5/41 | 20/39‡ (51) [80; 5–640] | ||
| Male | 10/12 | 3/12 | 8/12 (67) [60; 20–640] | 0.300 | |
| Female | 16/29 | 2/29 | 12/27‡ (44) [80; 5–640] | ||
| Lactating | 12/20 | 2/20 | 8/19‡ (42) [80;20–640] | 1.00 | |
| Nonlactating | 4/9 | 0/9 | 4/8‡ (50) [80;5–80] | ||
| Body condition score§ | |||||
| Poor | 5/9 | 0/9 | 1/9 (11) [640; NA] | P v F: 0.005; F v G: 0.315; P v G: 0.505 | |
| Fair | 16/24 | 5/24 | 16/23 (70) [80; 5–640] | ||
| Good | 3/6 | 0/6 | 2/5 (40) [60; 40–80] | ||
*SNT, serum neutralization test; NiV, Nipah virus; HeV, Hendra virus; NA, not applicable; P, poor; F, fair; G, good.
†Fisher exact test p value significant at <0.05.
‡Two samples had insufficient plasma for SNT (both were ELISA negative); sample 1 was from a nonlactating adult female with a good body condition score (BCS) and the other was from a lactating adult with a fair BCS. A third sample, a nonlactating adult female with a good BCS had equivocal NiV/HeV SNT titers (5), which was attributed to an unspecified henipavirus and considered negative for NiV and HeV.
§Two pre-weaned pups (1 male, NiV SNT negative; 1 female, NiV SNT positive titer 80) were excluded from the BCS dataset because of their physical immaturity.
