Researchers to study anthropogenic drivers of rabies in vampire bats
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - 15:28
in Biology & Nature
(PhysOrg.com) -- Throughout Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, Common vampire bats transmit infectious diseases such as rabies to animals and humans. Factors that influence the spread of disease within bat populations and transmission to other species are not well understood, making it difficult to predict rabies outbreaks in humans and livestock. Now, a team of researchers, led by associate professor Sonia Altizer of the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology, hopes to close these knowledge gaps with a $580,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for a three-year study of rabies in vampire bats in Peru.