Every year, in mid-September, big brown bats throughout Colorado head for their favourite roosts, where they will spent the winter in hibernation. But some of the bats won’t sleep alone – they are carrying the rabies virus, and it will also hibernate through the winter in its slumbering host.
The rabies virus is a killer. Infections are almost always fatal, and around 55,000 people around the world succumb to the virus every year. Dogs are the leading carriers, but in North America, vaccination programmes have effectively eliminated dog rabies. Bats are another story – they are far more difficult to vaccinate and they have overtaken man’s best friend as the leading cause of American rabies.
Now, Dylan B. George from Colorado State University has shown that the rabies virus, by hibernating alongside the big brown bats, gets a free pass to the next generation.
In bats, the rabies virus isn’t ...
