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 The tiny animals are carefully placed in cloth bags to be taken
away, measured and swabbed, with details logged and saliva and
faecal matter collected for analysis before they are returned to the
wild.
The researchers call themselves the "virus hunters", tasked with
catching thousands of bats to develop a simulation model they hope
will help the world avoid a pandemic similar to COVID-19, which has
killed nearly 2.8 million people.
(Open https://reut.rs/2OYdIHh in an external browser to see a
picture story on the Philippine bat "virus hunters".)
The Japanese-funded model will be developed over the next three
years by the University of the Philippines Los Banos, which hopes
the bats will help in predicting the dynamics of a coronavirus by
analysing factors such as climate, temperature and ease of spread,
to humans included.
"What we're trying to look into are other strains of coronavirus
that have the potential to jump to humans," said ecologist Phillip
Alviola, the leader of the group, who has studied bat viruses for
more than a decade.
"If we know the virus itself and we know where it came from, we know
how to isolate that virus geographically."
Beyond work in the laboratory, the research requires lengthy field
trips, involving traipsing for hours through thick rainforest and
precarious night hikes on mountains covered in rocks, tree roots,
mud and moss.
The group also targets bat roosts in buildings, setting up mist nets
before dusk to catch bats and extract samples by the light of
torches.
Each bat is held steady by the head as researchers insert tiny swabs
into their mouths and record wingspans with plastic rulers, to try
and see which of the more than 1,300 species and 20 families of bats
are most susceptible to infections and why.
[to top of second column] |
 DEVASTATING IMPACT
Researchers wear protective suits, masks and
gloves when in contact with the bats, as a
precaution against catching viruses.
"It's really scary these days," said Edison
Cosico, who is assisting Alviola. "You never
know if the bat is already a carrier.
"What we're after is finding out if there are
any more viruses from bats that can be
transmitted to humans. We'll never know if the
next one is just like COVID."
The bulk of those caught are horseshoe bats
known to harbour coronaviruses, including the
closest known relative of the novel coronavirus.
Horseshoe bats figure in two of the scenarios of
World Health Organization experts investigating
the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes
COVID-19. Host species, such as
bats, usually display no symptoms of the pathogens, although they
can be devastating if transmitted to humans or other animals.
Deadly viruses to have originated from bats include Ebola and other
coronaviruses, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Humans' exposure and closer interaction with wildlife meant the risk
of disease transmission was now higher than ever, said bat ecologist
Kirk Taray.
"By having baseline data on the nature and occurrence of the
potentially zoonotic virus in bats, we can somehow predict possible
outbreaks."
(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Karishma Singh)
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