We have previously looked at bats and their immunity toward viruses of almost all kinds, and why bats don’t get sick from them. But even though bats are immune, they are still carriers, and they can cause some of the deadliest disease outbreaks in history.
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Oftentimes, when we look at pandemics and try to figure out how to stop them, we always look for a cure. But a consortium of scientists and researchers including ecologists, infectious disease experts, and policymakers, have recently conducted a broad study on the system-wide complex interactions between wildlife, habitat, climate, and people to determine what could be the best solution to preventing pandemics from happening in the first place.
It’s not an isolated phenomenon, they argue. That is, we cannot merely study the bats’ physiology, genetics, or behavior to figure out how to kill viruses or produce a cure for the diseases they cause. The best way is to look at the bigger picture, and understand why and how these disease-carrying creatures like bats, rats, birds, and apes, spread diseases in the first place.
In the case of bats, Raina Plowright, an infectious disease ecologist, says that they often shed or release viruses into the environment whenever they get stressed. And the primary stressors for bats is the lack of native food.
Bats often feed on nectar, and for some species, they can eat insects. Generally, bats like the black flying foxes in Australia, look to flowers for nourishment. When natural lands are transformed for agriculture or mining, these bats lose their source of food, and they start looking for them elsewhere.
The next best alternative are agricultural crops, fruits, and the like. So, bats travel to human populated areas to forage food, and when they interact with other creatures like cattle, horses, or sheep, the viruses which the bats carry get transferred from the bats to those animals, and it won’t be long before humans get exposed to the viruses as well.
An example of this interaction, says Plowright, is the Hendra virus which spilled over from the flying foxes to horses, and then, it infected humans. Only seven people were infected by the Hendra virus, but four of those had become fatal. This spillover effect is the main cause of pandemics.
Therefore, in the paper written by the researchers, they had given three recommendations which are quite simple: (1) ensure that the animals have enough to eat, (2) protect the places and spaces where the animals aggregate, and (3) keep people who are most at risk safe by educating them and providing the necessary equipment and gear for work, especially when they come in contact with other animals.
Simple and easy as they may seem, it can be quite difficult to communicate, impart, and apply. But when people are informed about these, they do shift their actions and behavior to make sure that they don’t disturb the natural habitats of these animals. So, it would be in our best interest to be kinder to bats, and these other creatures.
(Image credit: Igam Ogam/Unsplash)
Source: neatorama