Bats are global reservoir for deadly coronaviruses

Finding could help researchers to better predict where these viruses are likely to make the jump from animals to people.

Determining which bats carry viruses that can infect people is tricky.

Bats are the major animal reservoir for coronaviruses worldwide, according to a survey of thousands of animals across Africa, Asia and the Americas. The animals had previously been linked to the coronaviruses that caused outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory virus (MERS), but until now researchers were not sure whether that was a coincidence or a sign of a broader trend.

The findings suggest that researchers who study infectious diseases can improve their predictions of where coronaviruses are likely to leap from animals to people by looking at the geographical distribution of different bat species and the behaviour of the viruses that they carry.

“It’s time to stop being reactive,” says Simon Anthony, a virologist at Columbia University in New York City and lead author of the study published today in Virus Evolution1. “The point is to take a different approach and be more proactive by understanding the diversity of viruses out there before they actually emerge.” The research was funded by the US Agency for International Development through a programme that aims to preempt pandemics of viruses that pass from animals to humans.''

Joseph Ana.

Africa Center for Clin Gov Research & Patient Safety

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