ROLE OF BATS IN RABIES 227 



small animals could not possibly have reached the giraffe through the 

 woven wire fence. At the time there was no history of rodent transmitted 

 rabies in the San Diego area. Infected rats have never been demonstrated 

 in Balboa Park. It is known, however, that nectar-eating bats had ap- 

 peared in San Diego at about that time, described by Lawrence M. Huey, 

 Curator, San Diego Natural History Museum, as on "adventurous 

 flights" from the mainland of Mexico to southern California. Many 

 areas in Mexico harbor vampire bats from which rabies virus has regu- 

 larly been demonstrated. It is known that nectar-eaters and other bats in 

 southern California and Mexico are colonial, and that, although it would 

 be unusual, they might migrate great distances. One cannot assume but 

 can admit the possibility of transmission of rabies from the infested vam- 

 pire to another species of bat which could conceivably have migrated to 

 the San Diego area and have attacked the giraffe. The degree of suscepti- 

 bility of giraffes to rabies is not known, but we may assume that it is 

 similar to that of the domestic cow. Cattle mortality due to rabies is high 

 and rabies is declared by some workers to be the main cause of cattle 

 deaths in Mexico, Central and South America as far south as Argentina. 



In the order Chiroptera there are more than two thousand species, 

 the greatest number being in the tropics. There are sixteen genera and 

 more than sixty five species represented in the United States. The insect 

 eaters consume from a half to their full weight in insects a day and con- 

 sequently have considerable economic value in agriculture. It is hoped 

 that bat banding, although now carried on only in a small way, may lead 

 to a better understanding of bat migratory habits. 



Until they are proved rabies free, we must admit the possibility of 

 latent rabies infection in all species of bats; and with this in mind, all 

 cases of rabies in which a virus source is unknown should be promptly 

 and carefully investigated. 



LITERATURE CITED 



COURTER, R. D. 



1954. Bat Rabies. U. S. Public Health Rept. 69:9. 



Enright, John 



1954. Personal communication. 



GiLYARD, R. T. 



1945. Bat Transmitted Paralytic Rabies. Cornell Vet. 35:195-209. (July) 



Hurst, E. W. and J. L. Pawan 



1931. An Outbreak of Rabies in Trinidad without history of Bites, and with 

 the Symptoms of Acute Ascending Myelitis. Lancet. 221 :622-628. 



1936. A Further Account of the Trinidad Outbreak of Acute Rabic Myelitis: 

 History of the Experimental Disease. Jour. Path. & Bact. 35:301-303. 



