First Research on Bat Bacteria in Burkina Faso (West Africa)

Abstract

The world is in turmoil with the emergence of various diseases in which bats play a key part. Indeed, bats are known to host bacteria that can create major public health problems. The investigation into bat bacteria was carried out from December 2020 to September 2021 at seven sites in Burkina Faso. Bat specimen collection occurred from 6 pm to 5 am with mist nets. On each bat captured, an oral and rectum swab was taken to search for bacterial species using standard bacterial culture methods. A total of 204 bats representing 11 species were captured. 183 bat specimens were infected by at least one bacterium with a prevalence of 89.7%. 54 species of bacteria divided into 30 genera were identified from the 183 specimens. Bacterial species richness was the highest in the bat Mops condylurus (A. Smith, 1833) followed by Epomophorus gambianus (Ogilby, 1835). Genus Escherichia was the most frequent of the bat species. Genus Pseudomonas alone is represented by six species. The most infected site was the rectum, from which we isolated 44 species of bacteria out of the 54 species. The most infected locality was Ouagadougou. Bacteria are highly pathogenic to humans and may be responsible for public health problems, such as Shigella sp. was identified and bacteria known to cause harm to bats such as Yersinia and Pasteurella were also isolated. From this study, decisions on the management of public health problems can be considered drown to avoid the emergence and re-emergence of certain zoonotic diseases.