Arctic-like Rabies Virus, Bangladesh

Khondoker Mahbuba Jamil, Kamruddin Ahmed

, Moazzem Hossain, Takashi Matsumoto, Mohammad Azmat Ali, Sohrab Hossain, Shakhawat Hossain, Aminul Islam, Mohammad Nasiruddin, and Akira Nishizono

Author affiliations: Author affiliations: Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh (K.M. Jamil); Oita University, Oita, Japan (K. Ahmed, T. Matsumoto, A. Nishizono); Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dhaka (M. Hossain); Dhaka City Corporation, Dhaka (M.A. Ali, S. Hossain, A. Islam, M. Nasiruddin); Tongi Municipality, Tongi, Bangladesh (S. Hossain)

Abstract

Arctic/Arctic-like rabies virus group 2 spread into Bangladesh ≈32 years ago. Because rabies is endemic to and a major public health problem in this country, we characterized this virus group. Its glycoprotein has 3 potential N-glycosylation sites that affect viral pathogenesis. Diversity of rabies virus might have public health implications in Bangladesh.

Rabies virus causes severe encephalitis in a wide range of mammals, including humans. Conservative estimates suggest that 55,000 persons worldwide die of rabies each year (1). Although the case-fatality rate in humans is 100%, rabies is preventable by vaccination. Bangladesh has the world’s third highest death rate for human rabies, an estimated 2,100 deaths per year (2). Dogs are the main reservoir of the virus and are responsible for spillover infections in humans (2). Therefore, dogs should be the principal target for successful rabies elimination.
With political will and solid global epidemiologic information, rabies elimination is possible. Molecular typing of circulating rabies viruses is necessary to identify and develop effective control measures, and to understand the spread of certain rabies virus variants and their incursion into new regions (3). For rabies elimination, this knowledge is needed for establishing cooperative approaches between neighboring countries to which the disease is endemic.
Bangladesh is one of several countries in which no molecular study has been conducted to identify types of rabies virus circulating within its boundaries. A lack of knowledge of phylogenetic relationships of Bangladesh rabies virus with viruses in other countries continues to hinder coordinated rabies control efforts in the region. This study was conducted to characterize rabies virus circulating in Bangladesh and to determine its relationship with viruses in neighboring countries to clarify its epidemiologic relationships, origin, and transmission dynamics.