Living with Vampire Bats: Rethinking Rabies Control Through Vaccination in Mexico

media release: Please join UW Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program. The events are free and open to the public.

Room 206 Ingraham Hall - 1155 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706.  

About the presentation: Vampire bats are among the most misunderstood animals in the Americas. They are feared for their blood-feeding habits and for the role they play in transmitting rabies to livestock and humans. Because vampire bats are often considered pest species, traditional rabies control strategies have focused on reducing bat populations. Yet rabies outbreaks continue. Our research explores an alternative approach: vaccinating the bats. This presentation will introduce vampire bat biology and rabies ecology, highlight our progress in designing vaccines that can work safely and effectively in bats, and discuss the challenges of moving bat vaccination from the laboratory to a field-based strategy in Mexico.

About the presenter: Elsa Cárdenas is a veterinarian from Mexico. She earned her PhD at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine in late 2021, where she evaluated a rabies vaccine in captive vampire bats and its perception among Mexican agriculture personnel. She is currently a postdoc at UW, continuing work on rabies vaccination by combining laboratory and field research to better understand its effects on wild vampire bat populations.