Bats and Rabies Virus: More Data On Colonies at High Risk

Sep. 26, 2013 — A new approach to rabies virus epidemiology in bats shows that the risk of infection is higher in large and multispecies colonies. The research, published on the journal PLOS ONE, has been led by Jordi Serra Cobo, professor from the Department of Animal Biology at the University of Barcelona and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), both affiliated centres with the campus of international excellence BKC. The article is also signed by experts Jacint Nadal and Marc López Roig (UB-IRBio), Miquel Borràs (Barcelona Science Park), Magdalena Seguí (Research Center in Viral Infections, CRIVIB), Luisa Pilar Sánchez (Institute of Health Carlos III), and Rachel Lavenir and Hervé Bourhy (Institut Pasteur).

It is the first time that a research analyses ecological factors that might affect the infection dynamics of the rabies virus in bat colonies. Between 2001 and 2011, 2,393 blood samples were collected from 20 bats species and 25 localities in Catalonia, Aragon and Balearic Islands. The research is centred on the detection of European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBL1), one of the twelve different groups of the genus Lyssavirus related to rabies, an emergent zoonosis that affects mammals all over the world.

Jordi Serra Cobo, who also leads the Biology and Biotechnology Club of Alumni UB, explains that "EBLV-1 seroprevalence is strongly affected by colony size and species richness. Previous studies have analysed other aspects such as the seasonal variability. Ecological factors play a relevant role in seroprevalence variability, but they were to date unknown."

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New report from European Food Safety Authority deems neonicotinoid insecticides as a high risk to honeybees

Wild pollinators such as bumblebees and moths contribute about 90% of UK insect pollination, which is worth £510 million to British farmers.

Buglife welcomes new report establishing neonicotinoid insecticides as high risk to bees

January 2013. Wildlife charity, Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust has welcomed a report released by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that deems neonicotinoid insecticides as a high risk to honeybees and also highlights the gaps in research on how neonicotinoids might affect other pollinators such as bumblebees.

EFSA's scientists have evaluated the risks that bees face from the insecticides Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam. The report concludes that "only uses on crops not attractive to honeybees were considered acceptable" because of exposure through nectar and pollen.

Honeybees at high risk from neonicotinoids dust
The EFSA also found that honeybees were at a high risk from neonicotinoids dust clouds created by drilling treated seeds into the ground and from guttation fluid (water sweated out by leaves and ingested by insects); risks which are not normally assessed when regulating pesticides. In addition, the EFSA report also identified ‘limited information' about the risk posed by neonicotinoids to populations of wild pollinators such as bumblebees.

In September 2012 Defra produced a report that stated that ‘no change in the existing regulation of Neonicotinoids is required'.

Matt Shardlow, Buglife CEO said "Buglife has been asking the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to follow the correct legal process, apply the precautionary principle and suspend all neonicotinoid insecticides immediately. We hope that these important findings will spur Defra into taking action".

Read more: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/neonicotinoid-insecticides.html