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Volume 14, Number 8—August 2008
Dispatch

Henipavirus Infection in Fruit Bats (Pteropus giganteus), India

Jonathan H. Epstein*Comments to Author , Vibhu Prakash†, Craig S. Smith‡, Peter Daszak*, Amanda B. McLaughlin§, Greer Meehan¶, Hume E. Field‡, and Andrew A. Cunningham#
Author affiliations: *The Consortium for Conservation Medicine, New York, New York, USA; †Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India; ‡Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; §Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, North Grafton, Massachusetts, USA; ¶Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; #Zoological Society of London, London, UK;

Main Article

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]
Total26/415/4120/39‡ (51) [80; 5–640]
Male10/123/128/12 (67) [60; 20–640]0.300
Female16/292/2912/27‡ (44) [80; 5–640]
Lactating12/202/208/19‡ (42) [80;20–640]1.00
Nonlactating
4/9
0/9
4/8‡ (50) [80;5–80]
Body condition score§
Poor5/90/91/9 (11) [640; NA]P v F: 0.005; 
F v G: 0.315; 
P v G: 0.505
Fair16/245/2416/23 (70) [80; 5–640]
Good3/60/62/5 (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.

Main Article

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