Reviewer 2's Review (AR Fooks)

“The manuscript by Amengual et al entitled 'Wave-like temporal spreading of lyssavirus and survival of bats in natural colonies' describes an epidemiological study showing the prevalence of EBLV-1 in Myotis myotis (insectivorous) bats. A temporal dynamics model was used to show the likely mortality rate in the bat colonies infected with EBLV-1. The bats were studied from two colonies in the Balearic Islands in Spain. The authors' principal observation was that cyclic lyssavirus infections occurred with periodic changes in the number of susceptible, immune (protected) and infected bats. A second observation was that during the 12-year observation period, the persistence of immunity (antibodies) lasted for more than 1-year in some individuals with oscillations of antibody levels over time. The authors' claims that this report is the first report on the dynamics of lyssavirus in a bat colony. Their observations support the notion for a 'mild' or 'silent' infection followed by survival. These data have implications for public health policy throughout Europe, especially as the risk of rabies in bats cannot be accurately determined on the basis of abnormal behaviour alone, especially if a small proportion of infected bats are asymptomatic when infected. The data reported here is highly controversial, which requires scrutiny from many experts before acceptance for publication.”

N.B. These are the general comments made by the reviewer when reviewing this paper in light of which the manuscript was revised. Specific points addressed during revision of the paper are not shown.