Ebola rabies SARS in kovat 19 are not
just viral diseases they are zoonotic
diseases caused by a virus transmitted
from animals to humans while many
animals are capable of transmission
there's one in particular that is
considered a virus super host bats so
what makes Dracula's alter-ego also the
perfect breeding ground for viruses bats
Harbor significantly more zoonotic
viruses compared to other mammals
researchers have found more than 60 of
these floating around in the bat
population and on average each bat plays
host to almost two of these viruses some
of these are linked to large-scale
outbreaks such as MERS SARS and Ebola
which were spread to humans either
directly from bats or through
intermediate house in scientists have
suggested that bats could also be linked
to the Cova 19 corona virus but with
such a heavy viral cargo how do bats
manage to survive
researchers believe it actually comes
down to their ability to fly the
inflammation that results from the
physical act of beating your wings you
know hundreds of times a minute that can
lead to damage at the cellular level
that intense damage would typically be
enough to trigger an immune response the
same reaction your body would have to an
infection this includes symptoms like
inflammation a fever or even mucus
production and for the most part this
reaction is to protect the body but
sometimes immune systems overreact which
can trigger severe diseases such as
pneumonia as seen with Cova 19 cases so
the aggressive and consistent amount of
damage caused by flying has forced bats
to adapt bats have dampened down their
response their inflammatory response
they produce only enough of a response
to survive and fly without the body
going into overdrive basically
without causing disease in that response
to flying comes with a rather helpful
by-product the power to fight viruses
their weekend anti-inflammatory response
not only stops the body from going into
overdrive it also allows them to always
be on high alert for viruses normally
mammals have to switch off their
antiviral response systems to avoid
inflammation but scientists have found
that some bats never switch off their
antiviral response at all their immune
system is basically always on the
lookout for a new viral invasion so when
a virus attacks bats can swiftly protect
their bodies against it they don't
necessarily kill the virus but they do
protect their cells against it
essentially acting as viral incubators
coexisting in tolerating it just enough
to survive most natural reservoirs have
a long-term relationship with viruses
and bacteria they've spent a long time
together and often infection with those
microbes is benign in its hosts so it's
really the interaction with new hosts
the ability for viruses to get into a
new animal or people that leads to
disease for a period of time without
having any serious symptoms in during
that time they pass it on bats make up
about 20% of mammalian species and they
also love being together which enhances
the spread of viruses between them and
well they get around the sky that is
bats can travel why Geographic distances
in very little time
this means they also pass there
viral fluid to a wide range of animals
and these animals can pass them to
humans through saliva feces or urine
oftentimes when animals are being
handled hunted butchered or eaten this
is exactly what happened in 2002 when a
horseshoe bat infected a civet with SARS
which then passed on the disease to
human populations but before we all
start a bat witch-hunt
let's take a step back bats are
essential to our society and ecosystems
they control insect populations
pollinate crops and teach us about sonar
systems so we wouldn't have our tropical
rainforest if it weren't for bats so
these are animals that are critically
important so even though we recognize
that they may carry viruses that have
the ability to infect people we have to
focus on human activities and the things
that we're doing that bring us into
contact with bats because the spillover
is typically accidental and it's caused
by us currently humanity is doing more
and more each day to bring us into
closer contact with wildlife we're
expanding cities and farms into wild
areas tearing down forests and capturing
animals for wildlife markets or illegal
trading these all increase the chances
of wildlife directly interacting with
people and domesticated animals and that
can lead to the emergence of new viruses
in human populations Kovan 19 isn't the
first and most certainly won't be the
last
soon attic disease pandemic but we can
be better prepared in the future we need
to continue to put resources into public
health measures strengthening health
systems and countries that are most
vulnerable to emerging diseases and
continuing to understand what viruses
are out there that are potentially risky
for human health and what are the
activities what are the actions going on
that put us at risk so that we can work
with local communities and with
countries including the United States to
try to reduce high risk behaviors
you