Bats, increasingly, are being viewed as substantial reservoirs for dangerous viruses. While long known to vector rabies, in the 1990s outbreaks of Hendra in Australia and Nipah in Malaysia and parts of Asia were eventually traced to bats, and while conclusive evidence is still lacking, the Ebola virus (and its cousin Marburg) are all believed to have bat origins
Bats are abundant (roughly 1/4th of all mammal species), mobile and wide ranging, and have adapted over millions of years to carry a variety of highly pathogenic viruses without ill effect.
via Avian Flu Diary: PNAS: Receptor Usage & Cell Entry Of Bat Coronaviruses.


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