Between May 1998 and March 2000, a carstic region was studied to evaluate existing bat species, their roosts, nearby domestic animal populations, wild mammals susceptible to rabies sharing same roosts and the efficiency of warfarin when applied to Desmodus rotundus rotundus dorsal area. The 480km² studied area included Cordisburgo and Curvelo counties, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Searching roosts sheltering blood sucking bats and other wild animals, 49 roosts were found, being 29 of them natural. Desmodus rotundus rotundus bats were present in 18 natural roosts. Seventeen of these caves were formed by calcarium rock dissolution or fall, both typical occurrence in the carste, and one tunnel carved through the action of a former river. The geomorphological characteristics and spatial locations, based on their geographics coordinates, were obtained with the help of a geographic position sensor (GPS). In these roosts 1457 bats of 14 species roosts were captured and identified being 640 Glossophaga soricina (Pallas, 1766), 566 Desmodus rotundus rotundus (E. Geoffroy, 1810), 73 Anoura geoffroyi (Gray 1838), 58 Trachops cirrhosus (Spix, 1823), 38 Diphylla ecaudata ecaudata (Spix, 1823), 23 Platyhrrinus lineatus (E. Geoffroy, 1810), 16 Lasiurus ega (Gervais, 1856), 14 Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758), 13 Phyllostomus hastatus hastatus (Pallas, 1767), 9 Artibeus lituratus (Olfers, 1818), 3 Mimmon bennettii (Gray, 1838), 2 Myotis nigricans (Schinz, 1821), 1 Eptesicus brasiliensis (Desmarest, 1819) and 1 Pygoderma bilabiatum (Wagner, 1843). The brains of 25 blood sucking bats and 52 of other species were selected for exam by direct imunofluorescence and inoculation in mice, but no rabies virus was detected. The majority of the roosts were also used by pacas (Agouti paca Linnaeus, 1766), water-hog (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris, Linnaeus, 1766), raccoons (Procyon cancrivorus, G. Cuvier, 1798) and foxes (Licalopex vetulus, Lund, 1842) all of each are also susceptible to rabies. In 546 Desmodus rotundus rotundus it was applied on interescapular area, approximately 1 gram of paste with warfarin dissolved in vaselin, being 2 grams for each 100 grams of the product. In the final evaluation, it was observed significant decrease in the incidence of bites in cattle and horses and the presence of recent traces of Desmodus rotundus rotundus, which were observed only in four out of 18 roosts. After the treatment of the blood sucking bats with warfarin, in all former roosts, no non sucking blood bat, nor mammal with clinical signs of intoxication attributed to the anticoagulant were found.
Bat; carste; roosts; combat; warfarin; rabies
