LOS BANOS, Philippines – Researchers wearing headlights and protective clothing compete to untangle the claws and wings of bats trapped in a large net after dark in the Philippine province of Laguna.
Small animals are carefully placed in cloth bags to be taken away, measured and absorbed, with the details recorded and the saliva and fecal matter collected for analysis before being returned to nature.
Researchers call themselves “virus hunters,” tasked with capturing thousands of bats to develop a simulation model they hope will help the world prevent a pandemic similar to COVID-19, which has killed nearly 2.8 million people. people.
The Japan-funded model will be developed over the next three years by the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, which hopes bats will help predict the dynamics of a coronavirus by analyzing factors such as climate, temperature and ease. of spread to humans. included.
“What we’re trying to study are other coronavirus strains that can jump on humans,” said ecologist Phillip Alviola, the group’s leader, who has been studying bat viruses for more than a decade.
“If we know the virus itself and know where it comes from, we will know how to geographically isolate that virus.”
Beyond laboratory work, the research requires long field trips, which involve trapping for hours through the density of the rainforest and precarious night excursions to rocky mountains, tree roots, mud and moss.
The group also heads to bat houses in buildings, setting up anti-weather nets before sunset to capture bats and extract samples in the light of torches.
Each bat stays firmly in the head as researchers insert tiny swabs into their mouths and record wingspan with plastic rulers to try to see which of the more than 1,300 species and 20 families of bats are most susceptible to infections and why.
DEVASTATING IMPACT
Researchers wear protective clothing, masks and gloves when in contact with bats, as a precaution against catching viruses.
“It’s very scary today,” said Edison Cosico, who helps Alviola. “You never know if the bat is already a carrier.
“What we are looking for is to find out if there are more bat viruses that can be transmitted to humans. We will never know if the next one is like COVID ”.
Most of those captured are horseshoe bats known to harbor coronavirus, including the closest known relative of the new coronavirus.
Horseshoe bats are listed in two of the scenarios by World Health Organization experts investigating the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus caused by COVID-19.
Host species, such as bats, do not usually show symptoms of pathogens, although they can be devastating if transmitted to humans or other animals.
Deadly viruses caused by bats include Ebola and other coronaviruses, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Human exposure and closer interaction with wildlife meant the risk of disease transmission was higher than ever, said Kirk Taray, a bat ecologist.
“Given baseline data on the nature and occurrence of the potentially zoonotic virus in bats, we can somehow predict possible outbreaks.”