Bat diseases may be the most deadly to humans

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 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

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.

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