The coronaviruses detected in the Pteropus and Rousettus species of bats from different States, including Kerala, have nothing to do with COVID-19, researchers have said.
No virus that causes the spread of SARS-CoV-2 was detected from bats during a recent study carried out by the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Moreover, the newly identified bat coronavirus (BtCoV) had no role in spreading any diseases in human beings, Pragya D. Yadav, the first author of the study, told The Hindu.
The studies were carried out in samples collected from different States in 2018 and 2019. The reported news of the detection of coronaviruses had created a commotion in scientific circles, as the bat samples were collected from here. Kerala is home to both the bat species. The panic-stricken public had rung up forest officials asking them to remove the bats from human habitations.
During the 2018 Nipah outbreak in Kerala, where bats served as the reservoir of the pathogen, there were attempts to kill bats and destroy its natural habitats. The research paper was also reviewed at the State Institute of Animal Diseases, Thiruvananthapuram.
Mass killing
Several wildlife researchers, including those specialising in bats, were concerned about the news as it was feared that any wrong information on the role of bats in the spread of the disease would lead to its mass killing.
According to Ms. Yadav, strains of coronavirus namely SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV are found in animals, which cause the disease to spread to human beings. However, the reported bat coronavirus from India and Thailand had not been associated with any human disease so far.
The pathogenic diseases were confirmed in studies carried out in China. The virology institute focused on Indian bats since no such studies were carried out in the country, Dr. Yadav said.
The researchers carried out studies in the representative rectal and throat swab specimens of the bats. The samples were screened for coronavirus using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The next-generation sequencing was performed on a few representative bat specimens that were tested positive.
