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]]>Pteropus medius are often vulnerable to high temperatures as they have exposed open roosting structures and are devoid of sweat glands, contributing toward their lower thermal tolerance than similar size mammals. Thermal or thermodynamic tolerance is an animal’s ability to balance thermogenesis and heat dissipation under ambient temperatures that exceed the thermoneutral zone. As a result, Pteropus have adopted various thermoregulatory behaviors and strategies, such as increasing the exposed surface area of their wings or enhancing evaporative cooling by salivation. The intensity, frequency and duration of the thermoregulatory behaviors increases in a sequential manner, starting with wing fanning to induce forced convection, followed by clumping and clustering to reduce exposure to solar radiation exposure, lastly, salivation (wrist licking), belly soaking and panting to induce evaporative cooling.
These flying foxes eventually collapse due to hyperthermia when ambient temperatures exceed 43°C. In hotter season, Indian flying foxes spend less time sleeping and resting because they engage in more thermoregulation. This sleep deprivation is known to negatively affect cognitive responses, physiological traits, and overall alertness. Ultimately, continued exposure to extreme heat results in early deaths.
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]]>The post Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on Bats and COVID-19 appeared first on Batcon Pakistan - Wildlife Conservation and Zoonoses Awareness.
]]>Bats do share some genomic similarities with SARS-COV-2 but it’s highly unlikely that bats can transfers SARS-COV-2 independently without the aid of any intermediary species. Pangolin is believe to be that intermediary species. However, we do not say anything for sure, how they interact which resulted in transmission of SARS-COV-2
Bats are reservoir of viruses just as any other animal species. In fact, there are other animals that carry more viruses than bats like migratory birds, rodents and pigs.
Bats have unique body physiology. They raise their body temperature as a flight mechanism, which can result in damage of virus particle (genome), that no longer remain viable to infect bats themselves.
Additional, there are evidences that bats have evolutionary relationship with viruse that reside in it. Which means that these virus evolved within bats, hence, infective for bats themselves.
A recent study shows that bats can develop an anti-inflammatory stage which prevent them form these viruses, which is actually quite amazing because it gives clues for human line of treatment against similar viral diseases
It is totally unjustified to vilify nature’s most mysterious and beneficial wildlife species. COVID-19 is spreading through human to human transmission. This mass hysteria of blaming bats has no justification and scientific proof to support. I feel there is need for more awareness for public and authorities, to appreciate how important bats are, for sustainable ecosystem and world economy.
It is highly painful as a bat researcher to see, how people are reacting to their friendliest bats neighbors. It is important to understand that bats do harbor zoonotic viruses but these viruses will not inflict harm to people until people start disturbing and poking them and continue degrading their habitats.
We have reports that many countries have secret wildlife bush meat markets like in China and some African countries where people trade bats for eating purposes. There is still lot need to be done to change people behavior and abolish bat meat eating culture and traditions around many regions of world.
Habitat destruction is the most serious threat for most of the bats species worldwide. Land use for agriculture and humans settlement have significantly reduced bats habitat across world. In addition, climate change induced global warming has further aggravated living conditions for bats particularly in South Asia. Pteropus medius is a local bats species in Indian subcontinent which is continuously under threat from harsh summer temperature.
We believe COVID-19 pandemic will not hurt global bat conservation efforts. In fact it will support our cause for wildlife especially bats conservation. One Health Approach is gaining momentum after COVID-19 pandemic, which appreciate human health is related with wellbeing of animals and environment health.
About Author
Dr. Touseef Ahmed is a PhD Scholar in Kingston Lab at Texas Tech University, USA. He is working on bats borne zoonotic diseases ecology and epidemiology in Pakistan. He is a founder of non-profit platform DEPAK.ORG, which is created for enhancing wildlife conservation and zoonosis through effective engagement. He is also representing Pakistan in Global Union for Bats Diversity Network GBatNet
The post Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on Bats and COVID-19 appeared first on Batcon Pakistan - Wildlife Conservation and Zoonoses Awareness.
]]>The post South Asian Scientists and Conservationists Bust Myths About Bats and COVID-19 appeared first on Batcon Pakistan - Wildlife Conservation and Zoonoses Awareness.
]]>The actual origin of SARS-CoV-2 is highly debated among scientists. SARS-CoV-2 appears to be similar to another coronavirus RaTG13 found in a species of bat called the Intermediate Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus affinis) [3]. However, a recent study has shown that RaTG13 and SARS-CoV-2 diverged 40-70 years ago from each other (a long timespan for the evolution of viruses) and hence the direct transmission of SARS-CoV-2 or its precursor from bats to humans is improbable [4,5]. Moreover, the surface proteins of all SARS-like viruses found in bats cannot bind efficiently to the corresponding receptors of the human lung epithelium which makes direct transmission even more unlikely [4].
It is also highly improbable that the faeces of bats pose an immediate health risk to humans and, none of the previous zoonotic disease outbreaks, globally, show any evidence that they were caused due to contact with bat faeces [6,7,8]. However, fungal infections (for eg. Histoplasmosis) may arise from unprotected contact with the faeces of any wild animal, so following basic hygiene rules is advised.
None of the South Asian bats are proven to be natural reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2. Recently, a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) found bat coronaviruses (BtCoV) in the common Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus medius a.k.a giganteus) and Fulvous Fruit Bat (Rousettus leschenaultii) [9]. However, less than 5% of the screened samples contained this BtCoV and, as the study mentions, it is very distantly-related to SARS-CoV-2 and hence cannot cause COVID-19.
The real drivers of zoonotic disease outbreaks are predominantly man-made and many animals are carriers of viruses which could potentially spillover to humans. However, in recent times only bats are unfortunately in focus for being reservoirs of viruses. Like any other animal, bats are also reservoirs of many zoonotic viruses. However, being reservoirs does not mean that they spread diseases to humans. In reality, there is very little scientific evidence to prove bats have directly transmitted viruses to humans or caused outbreaks. The only known exception was the Nipah (NiV) outbreak in Bangladesh which was caused through indirect contact between bats and humans. As the cause of the outbreak was identified, it became easy to control and prevent subsequent outbreaks through basic precautionary and mitigation measures [7,10]. Habitat fragmentation, global wildlife trade and wet markets, large-scale industrial farming of wild and domestic animals have synergistic effects in bringing animals in close contact in unsanitary or stressful conditions—ideal conditions for the transmission and evolution of novel zoonotic viruses [11]. Hence, during such outbreaks there is no reason to single out or villainise only bats – whose benefits far outweigh the perceived negativity associated with them. .
Bats perform vital ecosystem services all over the world. Fruit bats help pollinate globally important cash crops like durian [12] and agave (the plant that produces tequila) [13]. In South Asia, the culturally-significant tree Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) appears to be predominantly bat-pollinated [14]. In Nepal, Chiuri (Diploknema butyracea), a multipurpose tree for the rural populace is pollinated by bats [15]. Small fruit bats also pollinate the flowers of mangroves, which is an extremely productive ecosystem and also a natural barrier to coastal erosion and sea surges, thereby forming our first line of defence to natural disasters. Insectivorous bats, on the other hand, voraciously eat pest insects that cause economic losses in rice plantations [16] and also eat mosquitoes. For instance, bats are estimated to save ~800 million USD for cocoa farmers in Indonesia [17] and ~22 billion dollars (annually) for corn farmers in the United States [18] through pest control. The importance of bats as seed dispersers, pollinators and pest controllers, particularly in the region’s important cash crops (like tea) is beginning to be unravelled. Epidemiologically, the unique immune system of bats could provide clues on handling viruses, therefore they should be seen as a solution to disease outbreaks, rather than the problem.
In view of the above points, we firmly believe that the mass hysteria against bats is unfair and uncalled for. The current pandemic is an outcome of the ongoing ecological destruction, increasing intensification of livestock farming and wildlife trade. We urge people not to believe in news from unverified sources and cause harm to bats in retaliation. Likewise, we request the media to not oversimplify scientific evidence, to emphasise the role of humans in disease outbreaks and to highlight the importance of coexistence with bats in urban landscapes. Bats have been living around us for centuries and we have been disease free wherever bats have been left to their business. Oversimplified or unverified information from the press not only creates unnecessary fear among the public but also pushes decades of conservation efforts backwards which is far more destructive for the ecosystem.. In India, only two species (out of 128) are protected by law, while many other species are more endangered or lack scientific information [19]. In Nepal, too, all species are unprotected, including two species from the National Red List [20] and the same is true for Pakistan. We urge the governments of these countries to reconsider and reinforce the laws governing bat conservation.
Signatories
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Note: The views of the signatories are personal and may not reflect those of their institutions.
References
The post South Asian Scientists and Conservationists Bust Myths About Bats and COVID-19 appeared first on Batcon Pakistan - Wildlife Conservation and Zoonoses Awareness.
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