Rabies, the oldest zoonotic diease of mankind, is still significantly underreported and neglected throughout the world, posing a serious public health threat especially in developing countries. No substantial progress has been made in eliminating rabies on a global level in the past decades. A plethora of lyssavirus species and viral variants maintained by a diversity of abundant hosts with carnivores and bats as the main reservoirs, presents a challenge to disease eradication.
Although the lyssavirus reservoir in its entire complexity – including mesocarnivores & chiroptera - is cryptical yet, the ecology of rabies provides prototypic insights into origins of emerging bat-associated viral diseases. The proposed project uses a hypothesis-driven approach focusing on lyssavirus dynamics and maintenance, virus evolution and diversity, as well as host biology, to afford a significant progress in negleted zoonotic disease prediction and intervention. Understanding natural reservoirs and sources of lyssaviruses as well as the mechanisms these viruses have developed to spill over into non-reservoir species including humans are essential for decision-making and preventive work in the public health sector. A concerted research effort is therefore necessary, using proven surveillance strategies, sophisticated and novel diagnostic methods as well as in-vitro and in-vivo disease models. Technology transfer to countries where rabies is endemic will help to improve surveillance, diagnosis and effective control measures in the global fight against rabies.
