Why Don’t Bats Get Infected With Viruses Being The Perfect Hosts For So Many Viruses?
By Adnan Mahfuz
The whole world is stunned to see the epidemic coronavirus.
Researchers have not yet been able to determine the origin of the coronavirus, which was first identified in Wuhan’s Chinese city, but many believe it originated from bats.
Over the past several years, research has shown that bats are sources of several viruses that can be transmitted from animals to humans.
These include rabies, Marburg, Nipah, and Hendra viruses. Between 2002 and 2004, the global SARS outbreak killed more than 800 people. Bats are also responsible for this.
Researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China have identified Horseshi Butt, a remote cave dweller in south-eastern Yunnan Province, as the cause of the stork virus. According to some experts, the origin of the coronavirus novel is this species of bat.
The bats can be carriers of multiple viruses without being sick, except for rabies. A disease attacks them. The bat’s unique type of immune system, in which he achieved the ability to fly in the course of evolution as well as the long-term co-evolution of the virus.
According to scientists, after prolonged co-evolution with the virus, bats have developed immune systems that contain high levels of interferon and low levels of inflammatory cytokines.
The over-exposure of this interferon can protect the bat from any new RNA virus attack quickly. The presence of a low-volume of inflammatory cytokines prevents the bats causing inflammation in their bodies in the presence of the virus.
Simultaneously, bats have been shown to have a ‘weak DNA sensing’ effect on DNA viruses. Weak DNA sensing means avoiding the presence of DNA and not trying to take any action against it.
Scientists believe that this weak DNA sensing technique in bats is due to the bats’ ability to fly. This is because excess metabolic activity during flight damages some of the bat’s DNA and is carried to the cytosol, which results in the bat responding.
Still, the evolutionary process acquires its presence due to poor DNA sensing techniques. That is, bats cannot recognize the DNA virus as their enemy. And this inability to acknowledge has been a boon instead of the curse for the bats
The virus does not make it very convenient for the body because of this unique immune system of the bat. Therefore, they spread to other hosts very quickly, and due to the prolonged stress in the bat, the new virus is seen to cause severe disease after entering the host body.
However, due to the tall trees habitat and habitat of the nocturnal life, bats are not supposed to have close contact with other animals. Still, now due to human-made environmental disasters, bats are losing their habitat, and contact with other animals is increasing day by day. As a result, terrible diseases are spreading from bats to other animals and even humans.
Soruce: GreenPage Bangla
