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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Bat and virus ecology in a dynamic world

David A Wilkinson A and David TS Hayman A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory (mEpiLab), Hopkirk Research Institute, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand

B Email: D.T.S.Hayman@massey.ac.nz

Microbiology Australia 38(1) 33-35 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA17011
Published: 9 February 2017

Abstract

The emergence of infectious diseases caused by bat-associated viruses has had a devastating and wide-reaching effect on human populations. These viruses include lyssaviruses such as rabies virus, the filoviruses, Ebola (EBOV) and Marburg virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, and the paramyxoviruses, Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV)1. As a result bats have been the focus of substantial research (Fig. 1) and certain cellular and physiological traits of bats are hypothesised to lead to ‘special’ bat-virus associations2,3 (but see Han et al.4). The anthropogenic changes in the world we live will influence human health5, including through their impact on bat ecology and the viruses within bat populations. Australian people and livestock have been infected by novel bat viruses, such as HeV, Menangle viruses (MenV) and Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV), and are at the forefront of both epidemiological and virological research efforts into cross-species transmission events (spillover): here we put some of those efforts and the potential impacts of anthropogenic changes on bat-virus ecology under the microscope.


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