Haematophagous Bats and Rabies in Herbivores

Rabies is a deadly encephalitis that affects mammals and is best transmitted by animals with more complex dentition (upper and lower teeth) due to contact with saliva. Desmondine rabies transmitted by Desmodus rotundus is a threat to humans unvaccinated domestic animals and is used to control wild animals due to its mortality rate. However Desmodus must be infected in order to transmit the disease to those animals that are plundered for food or blood and not to the entire herd as well as being infected by aggression from other infected bats and not by the blood of an already sick animal. Recently the potential for spreading the virus to mesocarnivores through the consumption of sick or dying bats has been demonstrated.