The intensification of dog, cat and livestock vaccination campaigns significantly reduced rabies cases in humans and domestic animals in Ceará State, Brazil. However, sylvatic animals—bats (order Chiroptera), wild canids, raccoons and non‐human primates— remain as reservoirs for the virus. Our hypothesis is that surveillance and monitoring of rabies virus in bats, especially passive surveillance, is of fundamental importance, besides the implementation of health education and strengthening of surveillance actions in humans exposed to aggressions. Thus, we assessed the occurrence of rabies virus in animals focusing on bats, before and after launching of the Sylvatic Rabies Surveillance Program in 2010. Surveillance data from the 184 municipalities of Ceará State were analysed, collected during the periods 2003–2010 (active surveillance) and 2011–2016 (passive surveillance), respectively. A total of 13,543 mammalian samples were received for rabies diagnosis from 2003 to 2016. Of these, 10,960 were from dogs or cats (80.9%), 1,180 from bats (8.7%), 806 from other sylvatic animals (foxes, marmosets, raccoons; 6.0%) and 597 from herbivores (cattle, goats, sheep, equines, pigs; 4.4%). A total of 588 (4.3%) samples were positive for rabies. About 8.4% (99/1,180) of the bat samples were infected with rabies virus, 92 (92.9%) of these were from non‐haematophagous bat species and 7 (7.1%) from haematophagous species. The number of bat samples received and infection rates increased considerably, after a shift from active surveillance (9/355 [2.5%] samples positive), to passive surveillance (90/825 [10.9%] samples positive). Surveillance of rabies virus in bats is fundamental for human and domestic animal health in Ceará State. Bats have to be considered as targets in surveillance and control programmes. Virus lineages should be characterized to increase knowledge on transmission dynamics of sylvatic rabies virus to domestic animals and the human population, and to provide additional evidence for planning and implementation of improved control measures.

中文翻译：

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实施被动监视计划后，塞阿拉州（巴西东北部）的蝙蝠狂犬病病毒检出率增加。

狗，猫和家畜疫苗接种活动的加强大大减少了巴西塞阿拉州人类和家畜的狂犬病病例。但是，喜怒无常的动物–蝙蝠（手翅目），野生犬科动物，浣熊和非人类灵长类动物-仍然是该病毒的储存库。我们的假设是，蝙蝠中的狂犬病病毒的监视和监视，尤其是被动监视，除了实施健康教育和加强对遭受侵略的人类的监视行动外，都具有根本的重要性。因此，我们评估了2010年发起的西尔维克狂犬病监视计划之前和之后，以蝙蝠为重点的动物中狂犬病毒的发生情况。分析了塞阿州184个城市的监视数据，收集了2003年至2010年期间的数据（主动监测）和2011-2016年（被动监视）。从2003年至2016年，共收到13543份用于狂犬病诊断的哺乳动物样本。其中10960份来自狗或猫（占80.9％），1180份来自蝙蝠（占8.7％），其他野生动物（狐狸，mar猴，浣熊； 6.0％）中的806人；草食动物（牛，山羊，绵羊，马，猪，猪； 4.4％）中的597。总共588个（4.3％）样本的狂犬病呈阳性。约有8.4％（99 / 1,180）的蝙蝠样本感染了狂犬病病毒，其中92（92.9％）来自非食血性蝙蝠物种，其中7（7.1％）来自食血性物种。从主动监视（9/355 [2.5％]阳性样本）转移到被动监视（90/825 [10.9％]阳性样本）之后，接收到的蝙蝠样本数量和感染率大大增加。在塞阿拉州，监视蝙蝠中的狂犬病病毒是人类和家畜健康的基础。蝙蝠必须被视为监视和控制程序中的目标。