ABSTRACT
Various health problems of man and livestock have been attributed to vampire bats. Though problematic, the foregoing kinds of problems have not received the attention given the subject of this chapter, pathogenic microorganisms transmitted by vampire bats, an area that has been subjected to research of variable depth. A strain of rabies of vampire bat origin differed from strains recovered from various other species of mammal when compared by monoclonal antibody technique. Infected vampires must bite vertebrates to survive, and infected colonial insectivorous bats bite vertebrates only when restrained, as by handling. Vampires probably infect each other via infectious saliva delivered by bite, licking, possibly by ingestion of saliva-contaminated regurgitated blood, or perhaps by inhaling aerosolized saliva. Intraspecies transmission should similarly infect and ultimately neutralize vampire colonies. Person-to-person transmission via bites of mosquitoes can occur in human settlements and in urban areas.
