Understanding bats as a host of different viruses and Nepal's vulnerability on bat viruses

  • Pushpa Raj Acharya Mid-western University
  • Kishor Pandey Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Keywords: Bat, COVID-19, Virus

Abstract

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a twenty-first-century awakening for the human world that signifies the zoonotic viral challenge. Bats fauna are suspected to originate viral outbreaks through solid evidence that is lacking worldwide. The bats like Pteropus giganteus, Rousettus leschenaultia, Eonycteris spealea, Rhinolophus sinicus, R. affinis, R. ferremequinum, Nyctalus noctula, and Scotophillus bats are reported for viral evidence from other than Nepal. Bats bush-meat culture of Nepal indicates a high risk of a zoonotic viral outbreak in the future. Though Nepal has no evidence of any viral outbreak until the COVID-19 pandemic situation, precaution is warned for bat conservation and bat roost management to ensure bat virus safety.

References

Acharya, P. R., Adhikari, H., Dahal, S., Thapa, A. and Thapa, S. 2010. Bats of Nepal. A field guide. Small Mammals Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF), Kathmandu, p 116.

Acharya, P. R., Racey, P. A., Sotthibandhu, S. and Bumrungsri, S. 2015. Feeding behaviour of the dawn bat (Eonycteris spelaea) promotes cross pollination of economically important plants in Southeast Asia. Journal of Pollination Ecology 15:44–50

https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2015)5

Acharya, P. R. 2015. Chepang, Chiuri and Chamera, a Conservation Handbook. Friends of Nature (FoN), Kathmandu, p 32.

Anderson, R. M. and May, R. M. 1992. Indirectly transmitted microparasites, in: Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and Control. Oxford University Press.

Bermingham, A., Chand, M.A., Brown, C. S., Aarons, E., Tong, C., Langrish, C., et al. 2012. Severe respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus, in a patient transferred to the United Kingdom from the Middle East, September. Euro surveillance 17:20290 https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.17.40.20290-en

Bumrungsri, S., Sripaoraya, E., Chongsiri, T., Sridith, K. and Racey, P. A. 2009. The pollination ecology of durian (Durio zibethinus, Bombacaceae) in southern Thailand. Journal of Tropical Ecology 25:85–92. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467408005531

Calisher, C. H., Childs, J. E., Field, H. E., Holmes, K. V. and Schountz, T. 2006. Bats: Important reservoir hosts of emerging viruses. Clinical Microbiology Review 19:531–545.

https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00017-06

Chadha, M. S., Comer, J. A., Lowe, L., Rota, P. A., Rollin, P. E., Bellini, W. J., et al. 2006. Nipah virus-associated encephalitis outbreak, Siliguri, India. Emerging Infectious Diseases 12:235–240. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1202.051247

Chant, K., Chan, R., Smith, M., Dwyer, D. E., Kirkland, P., Conaty, S., et al. 1998. Probable human infection with a newly described virus in the family Paramyxoviridae. Emerging Infectious Diseases 4:273–275. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid0402.980215

Chua, K. B., Chua, B. H. and Wang, C. W. 2002a. Anthropogenic deforestation, El Niño and the emergence of Nipah virus in Malaysia. The Malaysian Journal of Pathology 24:15–21.

Chua, K. B., Goh, K. J., Wong, K. T., Kamarulzaman, A., Tan, P. S. K., Ksiazek, T. G., et al. 1999. Fatal encephalitis due to Nipah virus among pig-farmers in Malaysia. Lancet. 354:1257–1259.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(99)04299-3

Chua, K. B., Lek Koh, C., Hooi, P. S., Wee, K. F., Khong, J. H., Chua, B. H., et al. 2002b. Isolation of Nipah virus from Malaysian Island flying-foxes. Microbes and Infections 4:145–451.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1286-4579(01)01522-2

Drexler, J. F., Corman, V. M., Müller, M. A., Maganga, G. D., Vallo, P., Binger, T., et al. 2012. Bats host major mammalian paramyxoviruses. Nature Communications 3:796.

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1796

Field, H. E., Barratt, P. C., Hughes, R. J., Shield, J. and Sullivan, N. D. 2000. A fatal case of Hendra virus infection in a horse in north Queensland: Clinical and epidemiological features. Australian Veterinary Journal 78:279–280. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-0813.2000.tb11758.x

Fleming, T. H. 1995. Walker’s Bats of the World. Ronald M. Nowak. The Quartely Review of Biology 70:517.

https://doi.org/10.1086/419211

Goh, K. J., Tan, C. T., Chew, N. K., Tan, P. S. K., Kamarulzaman, A., Sarji, S. A., et al. 2000. Clinical features of Nipah virus encephalitis among pig farmers in Malaysia. The New England Journal of Medicine 342:1229–1235.

https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM200004273421701

Gordon, E. R., Curns, A. T., Krebs, J. W., Rupprecht, C. E., Real, L. A. and Childs, J. E. 2004. Temporal dynamics of rabies in a wildlife host and the risk of cross-species transmission. Epidemiology and Infection 132:515–524.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268804002067

Guo, W. P., Lin, X. D., Wang, W., Tian, J. H., Cong, M. L., Zhang, H. L., et al. 2013. Phylogeny and Origins of Hantaviruses Harbored by Bats, Insectivores, and Rodents. PLoS Pathogens 9:e1003159. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003159

Hayman, D. T. S. 2016. Bats as Viral Reservoirs. Annual Review of Virology 3:77–99.

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-virology-110615-042203

Hedenström, A. and Christoffer Johansson, L. 2015. Bat flight: Aerodynamics, kinematics and flight morphology. The Journal of Experimental Biology 218:653–663.

https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.031203

Hsu, V. P., Hossain, M. J., Parashar, U. D., Ali, M. M., Ksiazek, T. G., Kuzmin, I., et al. 2004. Nipah virus encephalitis reemergence, Bangladesh. Emerging Infectious Diseases 10:2082–2087.

https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1012.040701

Ithete, N. L., Stoffberg, S., Corman, V. M., Cottontail, V. M., Richards, L. R., Schoeman, M. C., et al. 2013. Close relative of human middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus in bat, South Africa. Emerging Infectious Diseases 19:1697–1699.

https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1910.130946

Jones, K. E., Patel, N. G., Levy, M. A., Storeygard, A., Balk, D., Gittleman, J. L., et al. 2008. Global trends in emerging infectious diseases. Nature 451:990–993.

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06536

Kunz, T. H., de Torrez, E. B., Bauer, D., Lobova, T. and Fleming, T. H. 2011. Ecosystem services provided by bats. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1223:1–38.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06004.x

Kunz, T. H. and Lumsden, L. F. 2003. Ecology of cavity and foliage roosting bats, in: Bat Ecology. University of Chicago Press.

Leroy, E. M., Kumulungui, B., Pourrut, X., Rouquet, P., Hassanin, A., Yaba, P., et al. 2005. Fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus. Nature 438:575–576. https://doi.org/10.1038/438575a

Li, F. 2016. Structure, Function, and Evolution of Coronavirus Spike Proteins. Annual Review of Virology 3:237–261.

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-virology-110615-042301

Li, W., Shi, Z., Yu, M., Ren, W., Smith, C., Epstein, J. H., et al. 2005. Bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses. Science 310:679–679. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1118391

Lu, R., Zhao, X., Li, J., Niu, P., Yang, B., Wu, H., et al. 2020. Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. Lancet 395:565–574. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30251-8

Luis, A. D., Hayman, D. T. S., O’Shea, T. J., Cryan, P. M., Gilbert, A. T., Pulliam, J. R. C., et al. 2013. A comparison of bats and rodents as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses: Are bats special? Proceeding, Biological Sciences 280:20122753.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2753

Murray, K., Selleck, P., Hooper, P., Hyatt, A., Gould, A., Gleeson, L., et al. 1995. A morbillivirus that caused fatal disease in horses and humans. Science 268:94–97.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7701348

Philbey, A. W., Kirkland, P. D., Ross, A. D., Davis, R. J., Gleeson, A. B., Love, R. J., et al. 1998. An apparently new virus (family Paramyxoviridae) infectious for pigs, humans, and fruit bats. Emerging Infectious Diseases 4:269–271.

https://doi.org/10.3201/eid0402.980214

Rott, R. and Siddell, S. 1998. One hundred years of animal virology. The Journal of General Virology 79:2871–2874.

https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-79-11-2871

Schneeberger, K. and Voigt, C. C. 2016. Zoonotic viruses and conservation of bats. In Bats in the Anthropocene: conservation of Bats in a Changing world (pp. 263–292). Springer, Cham.

Simmons, N. B. and Cirranello, A. L. 2020. Bat Species of the World: A taxonomic and geographic database. Accessed on 12/17/2020

Shah, Y., Pandey, K., Pant, D. K., Poudel, A., Dahal, B., Panta, K. P., et al. 2019. Potential Threat of Rabies Virus from Bat Bite in Nepal. The Open Microbiology Journal 12:419–421.

https://doi.org/10.2174/1874285801812010419

Shostak, A. W., 2003. The Ecology of Wildlife Diseases. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 39:470–471.

https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-39.2.470

Slenczka W, and Klenk H. D. 2007. Forty years of marburg virus. Journal of Infectious Diseases 15(196):S131–135.

https://doi.org/10.1086/520551

Smith, C., Skelly, C., Kung, N., Roberts, B. and Field, H. 2014. Flying-fox species density - A spatial risk factor for Hendra virus infection in horses in eastern Australia. PLoS One 9:e99965.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099965

Teeling, E. C., Springer, M. S., Madsen, O., Bates, P., O’Brien, S. J. and Murphy, W. J. 2005. A molecular phylogeny for bats illuminates biogeography and the fossil record. Science 307:580–584. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1105113

Tong, S., Li, Y., Rivailler, P., Conrardy, C., Alvarez Castillo, D. A., Chen, L. M., et al. 2012. A distinct lineage of influenza A virus from bats. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109:4269-4274.

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1116200109

Tuladhar-Douglas, W. 2008. The use of bats as medicine among the Newars. Journal fo Ethnobiology 28:69–91.

https://doi.org/10.2993/02780771(2008)28[69:TUOBAM]2.0.CO;2

van Boheemen, S., de Graaf, M., Lauber, C., Bestebroer, T. M., Raj, V. S., Zaki, A. M., et al. 2012. Genomic characterization of a newly discovered coronavirus associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome in humans. MBio 3:e00473-12.

https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00473-412

Worldometer.info [WWW Document], 2020. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, Accessed on 18 November 2020.

Published
2020-12-29
How to Cite
Acharya, P. R., & Pandey, K. (2020). Understanding bats as a host of different viruses and Nepal’s vulnerability on bat viruses. Nepalese Journal of Zoology , 4(2), 133-139. Retrieved from http://www.cdztu.edu.np/njz/index.php/NJZ/article/view/103