Dear All,
The bat workers community in Belgium raised some questions on risks associated with bat work and Covid-19. These questions might be relevant to think about for many bat workers. Can you please comment on these or sent some references that deal with this matter?
The questions are:
Is there a risk that the Covid-19 causing CORONA virus will be transmitted from bat workers to local bat species? If yes, what are the potential consequences, towards bats or towards humans by creating a new reservoir?
Should we advise to temporarily stop all capturing of bats and if yes, for how long?
Should we advise to temporarily stop counting of summer roosts an eventually later on counting of hibernacula?
Will such measures have effects on research and monitoring / reporting schemes?
Thank you very much in advance for your time and for sharing your opinion with us,
Kind regards,
Ralf Gyselings
Yes, it is possible and potentially disastrous. Why would you ever go near these creatures except to research their viruses?
Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman because their conservation is of very important concern and they are crucial species within their food chains. Why the bias against them?
Incidentally, the most recent studies that I've read on COVID-19 show that the virus was not transmitted directly from bats to humans but rather from bats to pangolins, and thereby to humans. I don't have a citation immediately available but I'll see if I can find one. Therefore unless you happen to be working with both of these species simultaneously I expect a second organic transmission of the virus to your workers would be a bit like winning the 'anti-lottery', ie., very unlikely.
It may be worth taking some extra precautions, but I expect that you and your workers are far more likely to be infected by COVID-19 via another human being rather than directly acquiring it from bats.
it may be that some researchers claim the corona virus DNA analysis results have similarities with bats
Michael Rudy New Zealand, where I live, has 2 native endemic bat species, so I’m not biased. But I think the risk of research in bats is too high unless you wear Hazmat. I know about coronavirus transmission as you mention, but it is definitely possible to contract it directly from bats, and even a novel virus, some of which have been recently discovered. And it’s still possible the virus was transmitted directly to humans. The question was about protecting bats too, so my comment about it being disastrous goes both ways! I’m a veterinarian and ecologist btw :)
Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman, ah, good points, yes it's true that distance would help protect them as well.
(forgive me, I find that many people have an unnatural distaste toward bats, and it's a pet peeve of mine. I thought that perhaps that was your meaning. The current crisis of course will only make this worse).
Nothing happens in this case. Bat will keep this new virus in their bodies, just one in a line of hundreds of others.
Hi all.
There are still poor data on this topic, but covid19 virus (more properly named SARS - CoV - 2) is not the same that had been found in Rhinolophus affinis.
For as concerns the present knowledge, this bat surely hosts coronaviruses with high genetic affinity (96,2%) with SARS - CoV - 2 but they cannot infects human cells, lacking a special ACE2 receptor on the tips of its peplomers.
On the contrary, a virus more similar to SARS - CoV - 2 had been found in Manis javanica, a pangolin on sale as food in many wet Asian market stalls.
Seems to be quite probable that the virus mutation that gathers the spillover from animal to humans has occurred in the situation of great promiscuity of wet Asian markets, with pangolins as intermediate guests.
For these reasons seem to be highly improbable that a contrary infection (from humans to bats) can happen.
Waiting more certainties, anyway, a certain caution in bats monitoring is surely advisable.
Preprint Investigating COVID-19: Quantifying recurring methodological...
Good ideas
I think more studies are needed to answer the question, but given the historical background of bats in storing and transmitting viruses such as SARS, this is also possible. Iran, where I live, has 51 bat species that one of them is native endemic bat (Myotis hyrcanicus), so I'm worried about protecting the bat community.
Hi Everybody,
These are information that some German scientists already infected flying foxes in captivity. I have not the scientific sours of information.
Maybe you know.
Hi Everybody,
find information on the possibility of infecting captive flying foxes at this link
https://www.fli.de/en/press/press-releases/press-singleview/novel-coronavirus-sars-cov-2-fruit-bats-and-ferrets-are-susceptible-pigs-and-chickens-are-not/
Thank you Roberto Toffoli
So, but, it was already two months ago. Interesting, somebody has done the same on insectivorous bats?
Please, check the comments in FB
https://www.facebook.com/IUCNBatSpecialistGroup/
about
RECOMMENDED SUSPENSION OF FIELD ACTIVITIES FOR THE PROTECTION OF BATS
These are the current recommendations of the U.S.G.S. National Wildlife Health Center regarding bat work: https://prd-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/atoms/files/WHB%202020-03%20COVID-19.pdf
There are limited data ans we needed more studied to answer the question. But if bats are reservoir and transmitting virus such as to the family of Coronaviridae (e.g.SARS), thing is also possible.
Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman I cannot comprehend such bias towards bats, even using it as a joke.
We, as biologists, have the responsibility to work as safe as we can, either to protect us (human populations) and our fauna subjects. Towards zoonotic diseases, here you go... a very recent paper about zoonotic diseases and fauna:
Viral zoonotic risk is homogenous among taxonomic orders of mammalian and avian reservoir hosts: https://zenodo.org/record/3516613#.XpdrSS3Mymk
About the subject of this post, we have very limited data towards this, so I think we have to be cautious. Here in Brazil, the bat society (SBEQ) recommended the halt of all works concerning bat manipulation or cave monitoring.
Frederico Hintze i don’t know what you mean. There was no joke or bias. We need to protect ourselves and bat species from these viruses
"Why would you ever go near these creatures except to research their viruses?"
Sorry but I only saw that phrase and replied shortly after.
Dear Ralf Gyselings , go through the below link,
https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/important-update-bats-do-not-spread-covid-19
I think the concern among wildlife managers is that bat researchers could introduce it to bat populations, not the other way around. But there ceratinly have been plenty of terrible outcomes for bat colonies around the world because of misinformation! I wish the news media would choose their words more carefully.
EUROBATS released a statement today: https://www.eurobats.org/node/2602
Recommendations should also cover speleologists or anyone who frequents hypogea, I think.
Ralf Gyselings and co-authors have now written an excellent manuscript with direct relevance to this topic (Risk of Human-to-Wildlife Transmission of SARS-CoV-2). It is freely available from his account or here: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202005.0141/v1
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