Coronavirus According to research by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) researchers have found the presence of a different kind of coronavirus – bat coronavirus (BtCoV) – in two bat species. As many as twenty-five bats of Pteropus and Rousettus species from Kerala, Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were found positive for the bat coronavirus.
However, there is no evidence or research to back the claim that these bat coronaviruses can cause disease in humans. “These bat coronaviruses have no relation with SARS-CoV2 responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Pragya Yadav the first author of the study. Dr Yadav is a Bat Scientist at the Bat National Institute of Virology, Pune.
Throat and rectal swab samples of two bat species – Rousettus and Pteropus – from seven states were screened for BtCoV, during which, the representative samples collected from Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu tested positive while those from Chandigarh, Telangana, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka and Odisha came out negative. The RT-PCR (Reverse-Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests and sequencing were used for Bat the confirmation of the findings.
“This is an ongoing study to understand the prevalence of the Nipah virus in bats,” she said. The Pteropus bat species were found positive for Bat Nipah virus in 2018 and 2019 in the south-Indian state of Kerala.
“Bats are considered to be the natural reservoir for many viruses, of which some are potential human pathogens. In India, an association of Pteropus medius bats with the Nipah virus was reported in the past. It is suspected that the recently emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) also has its association with bats,” the objective of the study titled ‘Detection of coronaviruses in Pteropus and Rousettus species of bats from different states of India’ stated.
The study Bat stressed on the need Bat for active and continuous surveillance of zoonotic infections; the detection and identification of which would be helpful in timely interventions. The research also recommends cross-sectional antibody surveys from human and domestic animals in localities where the viruses have been detected. The study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research also emphasised on the need of developing strong mechanisms for working jointly with various stakeholders such as wildlife, poultry, animal husbandry and human health departments.
