Genetic characterization of Rift Valley Fever Virus in insectivorous bats during Inter-epidemic Periods, Egypt

The possibility that the bats could act as amplifying/reservoir host for Rift valley Fever virus (RVFV) during the inter-epidemic period was investigated. Four-hundred different samples were obtained from 100 Egyptian insectivorous and frugivorous bats (comprising two species) and tested by real-time RT-PCR assay (rRT-PCR). Pooled liver from insectivorous but not frugivorous bat samples were found positive for RVFV RNA, Partial S and M genome segments sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis showed that these viruses are genetically close to those circulated in livestock and humans during the previously reported RVFV outbreaks in Egypt 1977-1978, 1993 and 2003. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of the RVFV genome in insectivorous bats in Egypt.