This is a pretty informative post, I thought.
Why do viruses often come from bats? A discussion with your friendly neighborhood virologist
Why do viruses often come from bats? A discussion with your friendly neighborhood virologist
Reddit said:Hello r/Science! I’m /u/_Shibboleth_ and I’m a Virologist/Immunologist.
The 4.5 years I spent getting a PhD were dedicated to studying antibody responses against emerging viruses like Ebola and Marburg. So you can imagine how much time I’ve spent thinking about bats.
Here’s some answers about why they always seem to be the culprit when it comes to outbreaks.
Q: Why is it always bats? (that harbor dangerous viruses that spill over into humans)
A: It's complicated.
TL;DR - Bats are a perfect storm of: genetic proximity to humans (as fellow mammals), keystone species interacting with many others in the environment (including via respiratory secretions and blood-transmission), great immune systems for spreading dangerous viruses, flight, social structure, hibernation, etc.
You may not be fully aware, but unless your head has been stuffed in the sand, you've probably heard, at some point, that X virus "lives in bats." It's been said about: Rabies, Hendra/Nipah, Ebola, Chikungunya, Rift Valley Fever, St. Louis Encephalitis, and yes, SARS, MERS, and, now probably SARS-CoV-2 (with the addition of another intermediate species?)
Bats really do harbor more viruses than other species groups!
But why? Why is it always bats? The answer lies in the unique niche bats fill in our ecosystem.
...
Last edited: