Interesting article about bats and influenza:
Study: Bat species has avian and human flu receptors
Little brown bats, widely found in North America, have both avian and human sialic acid receptors and could be co-infected with avian and human influenza A viruses (IAVs), an event that could lead to the emergence of zoonotic strains, a team led by Pennsylvania State University researchers reported in Scientific Reports. Scientists are looking into bats' role in influenza virus epidemiology after two novel influenza-like viruses were found in fruit bats in 2013. For the study, the researchers looked for influenza virus receptors in tissue sections of 10 juvenile and 10 adult little brown bats. They found abundant avian- and human-type influenza virus receptors throughout the animals' respiratory tracts, with avian receptors more predominant in the tracheal mucosa—similar to ducks—and human ones predominant in other tracheal tissues and in the lower airway. Both types of receptors were found in the bats' digestive tracts. Virus-binding tests with low-pathogenic H5N2 and a human H1N1 virus revealed that the receptors in the little brown bats are compatible with avian and human IAV binding. Other studies with cell lines from a range of bat species support influenza A virus replication, and the new findings on receptors suggests that bats could play an important role in influenza A epidemiology and zoonotic emergence, the scientists wrote. They added, "The extensive diversity of bat species globally and the limited understanding of the role of bats in IAV biology raises an urgent need for comprehensive epidemiological surveillance if IAVs across different bat species."
------------- CRS, DrPH
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