Amplification of Emerging Viruses in a Bat Colony

• Main Authors: Jan Felix Drexler, Victor Max Corman, Tom Wegner, Adriana Fumie Tateno, Rodrigo Melim Zerbinati, Florian Gloza-rausch, Antje Seebens, Marcel A. Müller, Christian Drosten
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.288.7095

Bats host noteworthy viral pathogens, including coronaviruses, astroviruses, and adenoviruses. Knowledge on the ecology of reservoir-borne viruses is critical for preventive approaches against zoonotic epidemics. We studied a maternity colony of Myotis myotis bats in the attic of a private house in a suburban neighborhood in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, during 2008, 2009, and 2010. One coronavirus, 6 astroviruses, and 1 novel adenovirus were identified and monitored quantitatively. Strong and specifi c amplifi cation of RNA viruses, but not of DNA viruses, occurred during colony formation and after parturition. The breeding success of the colony was signifi cantly better in 2010 than in 2008, in spite of stronger amplifi cation of coronaviruses and astroviruses in 2010, suggesting that these viruses had little pathogenic infl uence on bats. However, the general correlation of virus and bat population dynamics suggests that bats control infections similar to other mammals and that they may well experience epidemics of viruses under certain circumstances. Bats (Chiroptera) constitute ≈20 % of living mammal species and are distributed on all continents except Antarctica (1). Their ability to fly and migrate, as well as the large sizes of social groups, predispose them for the acquisition and maintenance of viruses (2). Although the ways of contact are unknown, bat-borne viruses can be passed to other mammals and cause epidemics (2,3). Several seminal studies have recently implicated bats