Scientists say that bats will be the most likely source of the next major epidemic. While a new study finds only a handful of bats have this potential, those that do can harbor a virus that will spread quickly in human beings.
The new global study, published in the journal Communications Biology, found that only a small fraction of bat lineages consistently host viruses with the highest epidemic potential. The results show that epidemic risk clusters within specific evolutionary groups rather than across bats as a whole.
The study additionally reframes emerging disease risk as the outcome of host lineages interacting with human choices instead of blaming bats.
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The study, led by Caroline Cummings, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma, helps clarify which bat families warrant closer surveillance – and which do not. “Instead of all bats carrying all dangerous viruses, it’s only specific bats,” said Cummings.
According to a report by Earth.com, scientists started by analyzing data from nearly 900 mammal species worldwide. The researchers tracked which animal hosts have repeatedly produced viruses that cause severe and fast-spreading human outbreaks.
They called that score viral epidemic potential, a single measure that blends severity, ease of spread, and overall deaths.
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Testing wild animals for new viruses usually takes expensive fieldwork, lab analysis, and years of patient effort for each sampling campaign.
By pinpointing particular bat families with high epidemic scores, the study suggests surveillance can focus on narrower targets instead of every bat species. –Earth.com
“If we lost bats, agricultural production would be negatively affected, and so would economies,” said Cummings.
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