Viruses from bats are likely to be more deadly to humans than viruses from other animals, due to bats' evolved resistance to inflammation.
, and SARS and MERS coronaviruses," Cara Brook, an assistant professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago and lead author of the paper, toldStock image of a common pipistrelle bat. Viruses from bats are likely to be more deadly to humans than viruses from other animals due to bats' resistance to inflammation.
The paper reveals that the reasons for this are because of bats' innate tolerance of inflammation, which evolved in tandem with their ability to fly. "We use a mathematical model, supported by empirical data, to provide a mechanism for this pattern: essentially, in this model, we demonstrate how a virus can be expected to optimize its within-host virus growth rate by balancing the gains in transmission that result from high virus growth rates against the elevated virulence that these growth rates incur," Brook explained. "We demonstrate mathematically how a few key features of bat physiology and life history that are thought, in part from the evolution of flight—chiefly tolerance of immunopathology/inflammation and robust constitutive immune systems—should select for high growth rate viruses that can achieve gains in transmission without causing extreme virulence to bat hosts."ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS Therefore, due to bats' resistance to inflammation, they are also tolerant of the immune responses of their bodies when they are infected by more virulent viruses with faster growth rates. The researchers used their model to"spillover," or infect, bat-optimized viruses into a hypothetical human immune system, and showed how much more deadly they could be compared to viruses from other mammals. "We then allow these viruses to demonstrate how high virus growth rates optimized on an animal reservoir could result in significant pathology in a different immune system," Brook explained. "The study is not just limited to bats—we use the life history traits of 19 different mammalian orders to 'predict' optimal virus growth rates and the ensuing zoonotic virulence following spillover to humans for a virus evolved on these diverse reservoir hosts."will wipe out the human species one day, however. "With regard to dangers posed by bat viruses, it's important to remember that transmission and virulence tradeoff, so viruses that cause the highest case fatality rates are not likely to result in the highest number of human infections, or, therefore, the highest burden of human mortality."Viruses therefore need to find a balance between keeping their host alive long enough to spread to further hosts. One example of this is seen
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