Pathogens from bats have become a serious problem in recent years. public health. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown that as the most appropriate scenario, COVID-19 spread from bats to humans, perhaps via an intermediate species. A major challenge for the scientific community is determining how these pathogens spread to human populations. Now, scientists believe they have ‘discovered’ asecret weapon‘ To prevent the next epidemic: fruit bat.
This land use changesHE climate change And other anthropogenic stressors appear to be the main reasons. changes in the behavior of bats. The changes, in order, support the spread of virusesin many cases it is harmless to flying mammals, but can be fatal to humans.
Several complementary studies, recently published in the journals ‘Nature’ and ‘Ecology Letters’, include new agricultural uses, global warming, the behavior of bats, and some viruses, particularly hendra (respiratory virus with flu-like symptoms) to horses in subtropical Australia. It can be fatal to both horses and humans.
Data collected over the past 25 years show that bats are responding. environmental changes It has been recorded in the wild through “persistent adoption of behaviors that were previously temporary responses to nutritional stress,” the scientists said.
Among these behaviors permanent residence of bats in agricultural areas and areas with human presencewhere periodic food shortages form clusters of infections.
ecological measures
“Our long-term work, Mechanical links between habitat loss, climate and increased risk of contamination. It provides a framework for studying and developing the causes of virus spreading from bats. Ecological measures to prevent epidemics“compiles one of the studies conducted by American and Australian researchers.
A team of 70 scientists from seven countries has now conspired find the ‘key’ to prevent future epidemics. half face The fruit bat, also known as the flying fox, For this purpose, they will be the leading actors of an experiment to be conducted in a laboratory in Montana, USA.
The researchers aim to dispel doubts, such as why bats are a creature. vector very prominent in the spread of viruses to humanswhat causes their immune systems to take hold of viruses and in what situations they eliminate them.
Some of the ‘error’ of bats, the primary vectors of virus transmission, are based on this premise: nutritional stressIt is mainly caused by human occupation of their habitats and climate change.
To determine how nutritional stress affects bats, the scientists plan to infect them with the flu virus and divide them into groups to feed each a different diet. They will then examine how much virus each group sheds, the viral shedding time, and the antiviral response.
The ultimate goal is to know all possible details to design”ecological measures“It can be put into practice to break the cycle of indirect effects of nutritional stress.
Stress from lack of food spreads virus
Previous research revealed that in 2006 almost no trace of the virus was found in Australian bats. tropical cyclone ‘Larry’ It will sweep the shores of the Northern Territory and put an end to the food supply for these animals.
For this reason, hundreds of thousands of bats diedBut scientists found A small population of lean and hungry specimens loaded with Hendra virus. This has led researchers to focus on nutritional stress as a key factor in the spread of the virus.
After a quarter of a century of research, The scientists demonstrated the relationship between habitat loss, climate, stress from lack of food, and high viral loads in bats..
Same way, lack of flowering in eucalyptus forests, deforestation And human invasion It destroyed their food sources and caused bats to migrate to urban areas with trees that did not provide them with adequate nutrition and to spread stress by spreading viruses.
In the case of Hedra, when bats excrete urine and feces, the horses sniff the soil, inhaling the virus and becoming infected.
Habitat destruction facilitates human transmission
The conclusions of the researchers are as follows: Habitat destruction and degradation increase the likelihood of deadly pathogens passing from wild animals to humans.. The three most likely sources of transmission are bats, mammals and arthropods, particularly ticks.
To prevent new viruses from reaching humans, scientists protect and restore habitats for bats and other animals to ensure that they are adequately fed.
Now they believe they can, thanks to the fruit bat. predict where viruses are most likely to spread and thus prevent a new pandemic.
Reference works:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05506-2
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.14007
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