Most emerging infectious diseases are caused by zoonotic pathogens – viruses and bacteria which circulate in wild and domestic animals but are also capable of infecting humans. Examples of diseases caused by zoonotic pathogens include Ebola, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and bird flu.
Certain bat species act as a reservoir for a range of viruses that can jump to humans – for example, the closest relatives of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID) circulate in bats of the Rhinolophus genus. However, we don’t have a good understanding of the diversity of viruses circulating in bat populations in most parts of the world. We also don’t have a good idea of the number of bat viruses that could jump into humans in the future.
This motivated new research, in which we searched for RNA viruses circulating in UK bats. RNA viruses, of which SARS-CoV-2 is one, are generally considered to be the most worrying zoonotic threats.
