10-YEAR SURVEY OF BRITISH BATS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF RABIES

In 1985, a notable increase in the number of recorded cases of rabies in European bats was observed, indicating a possible spread of the rab ies virus in these bats, Because of concern that the disease could be introduced into the United Kingdom by bats crossing from mainland Euro pe, a programme of screening dead bats for the presence of rabies and rabies-related viruses was initiated at the Rabies Research and Diagno stic Unit at the central Veterinary Laboratory, Over a period of 10 ye ars (January 1986 to December 1995), 1882 bats belonging to 23 species from all parts of England, Scotland and Wales have been screened for rabies antigen. All of these bats were found to be negative. Forty-one serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus), the species of bat most commonly infected in Europe, were included in the total. Subsequent to this su rvey, in June 1996, a European bat Iyssavirus 2 was isolated from a Da ubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) in Newhaven, East Sussex, It is pos sible that this bat originated from mainland Europe but this cannot be established with certainty.