Chinese Horseshoe Bats May be the Origin of the SARS Virus

Scientists have been searching for years for the origin of the deadly SARS virus, a respiratory syndrome that resulted in a pandemic in 2002 that was one of the most significant public health events in recent history. Now, researchers may have found what first spawned this virus; it turns out that Chinese horseshoe bats may have carried the virus and that direct bat-to-human contact may be what caused the outbreak.

In order to better understand this virus, the researchers used genetic analysis on samples taken over the course of a year from members of a horseshoe bat colony.  They found at least seven different strains of SL-CoVs within just a single group of bats. This highlighted the importance of research programs targeting high-risk wildlife groups.

"Our discovery that bats carrying SARS-CoV may be able to directly infect humans has enormous implications for public health control measures," said Peter Daszak, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Our findings suggest that SARS-like coronaviruses are diverse and abundant in bats in Asia, and the potential for future spillover remains high. If we add this to the recent finding that Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) originates in Saudi Arabian bats, it's strong evidence that bat coronaviruses remain a substantial global threat to public health."

The findings are crucial for future research. More specifically, they show the importance of understanding which animals could potentially be carriers for these viruses. This, in turn, would help curb the spread of coronaviruses.

Currently, the scientists are continuing to try to understand the underlying ecological and biological mechanisms that govern relationships between human-induced environmental changes. More specifically, researchers are looking at the emergence and transmissions of infectious diseases from the environment to humans as factors like habitat alteration, biological invasion and climate change are taken into account.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.