The bat as a source of viral zoonoses

Abstract

Introduction: bats (Chiroptera) are mammalian transmitters of various zoonotic viruses to man and other animals. According to recent evidence, one of these viruses would be the cause of COVID-19, an infectious disease that emerged at the end of 2019 and is the current pandemic.

Objective: to expose the current criteria on the relevance of chiropteran immunity in the epidemiological chain of these zoonoses, based on describing the viruses of chiropteran origin with the greatest impact in the last century and the main theories about their transmission from bats to humans.

Methods: bibliographic sources available in static and dynamic, digital and printed databases were reviewed, and documents on the subject of viral zoonoses caused by bats were selected.

Development: the Orthocoronavirinae, Filoviridae, Paramyxoviridae and Rhabdoviridae families contain the main chiropteran viruses that affect other mammals. These viruses are almost always transmitted through an intermediate host until they reach humans, which complicates their ecological control, since the immunological capacity of bats allows them to carry the viruses and spread them through environmental interaction.

Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2, Ebola virus, rabies, SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV are the viruses of chiropteran origin with the greatest impact. Its transmission generally depends on intermediate hosts, rather than direct interaction between humans and infected bats. The exceptional immunological capacity of bats makes them excellent reservoir hosts (apparently healthy primary hosts), which does not suggest danger for this species, but it does for other mammals, such as humans.