ANTIGENIC ANALYSIS OF RABIES-VIRUS ISOLATES FROM LATIN-AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

A total of 288 rabies-virus samples from 17 Latin American and Caribbe an countries were reacted with an array of monoclonal antibodies. Iden tification of eight distinct antigenic variants among these samples pe rmitted epidemiologic studies of the geographic distribution of differ ent concentrations of rabies in the region and of the animal species s erving as maintenance sources for rabies within a concentrated area. T wo variants were broadly distributed and associated with enzootic dise ase in dogs and vampire bats. All isolates from cases of human rabies contained one of these two variants. TWO variants had a limited distri bution: an outbreak in Brazil, and believed to be maintained by dog-to -dog transmission, and nine in Venezuela, animal reservoir unknown. A reservoir of rabies in insectivorous bats was identified and the assoc iated variant was found in a rabid domestic cat. The remaining three r abies variants were found in single isolates only, but due to inferenc e from antigenic-typing data from North American samples, were believe d to be maintained by reservoirs of rabies in hoary bats, foxes, and s kunks.