Scientists raise ‘urgent concerns’ following discovery of 20 new bat viruses in China

The exact origins of the COVID-19 pandemic have never been discovered, although there continues to be plenty of discussion about whether bats could've been behind the outbreak in Wuhan, China.

Although bats are supposed ‘'reservoirs' of diverse coronaviruses, there's no evidence that the specific COVID-19 strain can be isolated from any bat species. Still, scientists have been closely monitoring bats in a post-pandemic world.

After the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world, it makes sense that the scientific world is keeping an eye on bats, but now, new research has some worried about another apocalyptic outbreak.

The Yunnan Institute of Endemic Disease Control and Prevention and Tian Yang from Dali University in China led research, using genetic analysis to isolate microbes in 142 bats. Across 10 different species, they found 22 viruses in total.

The worrying part of this is that 20 of these viruses were new to science, including a new bacterium and a new protozoan parasite.

Published in the PLoS Pathogens journal, scientists have raised “urgent concerns about the potential for these viruses to spill over into humans or livestock" following the discovery of these new bacteria and parasites on bats inhabiting fruit orchards in southwestern China’s Yunnan province.

It's said that two viruses are close relatives of the potentially deadly Nipah and Hendra pathogens that can cause brain inflammation and respiratory disease in humans. In particular

Nipah is a lethal pathogen that boasts a mortality rate of between 35 and 75 percent.

As for the Hendra virus, it's been linked to multiple fatal outbreaks in both humans and horses.

More than half of the genes discovered in these viruses match the Nipah and Hendra viruses. It's currently unclear whether the two new henipaviruses can cross species from bats, although scientists are expected to keep monitoring them.

Researchers added: "These viruses are naturally hosted by fruit bats and are typically transmitted to humans through bat urine or saliva, often via contamination of food sources."

Referring to the Yunnan province as a 'hotspot for bat diversity', the team notes that the unique immune system of a bat allows it to become the perfect petri dish for any number of viruses and bacteria that could be deadly to humans.

As shared by Scimex.org, molecular virologist Vinod Balasubramaniam from Monash University in Malaysia warned: "These viruses are particularly concerning because they were predominantly found in bat kidneys, a site linked to urine production, raising alarm about potential human exposure via contaminated fruits or water (routes implicated in previous outbreaks)."

Professor Tim Mahony is the Director of the Centre for Animal Science and a Professorial Research Fellow in Veterinary Virology at The University of Queensland, somewhat putting our fears at rest. Mahony concluded: "This study highlights that we know very little about the viruses that infect bats and those that exist in our world more generally. The technologies and approaches used in this study enabled the authors to identify new viruses more easily compared to conventional virological techniques.

"The detection of two viruses that are closely related to Hendra virus and Nipah virus is of particular interest. While the Hendra and Nipah viruses are highly lethal to humans, infection is rare, particularly for Hendra virus."