title: Bat flight and zoonotic viruses.
abstract: Bats are sources of high viral diversity and high-profile zoonotic viruses worldwide. Although apparently not pathogenic in their reservoir hosts, some viruses from bats severely affect other mammals, including humans. Examples include severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses, Ebola and Marburg viruses, and Nipah and Hendra viruses. Factors underlying high viral diversity in bats are the subject of speculation. We hypothesize that flight, a factor common to all bats but to no other mammals, provides an intensive selective force for coexistence with viral parasites through a daily cycle that elevates metabolism and body temperature analogous to the febrile response in other mammals. On an evolutionary scale, this host-virus interaction might have resulted in the large diversity of zoonotic viruses in bats, possibly through bat viruses adapting to be more tolerant of the fever response and less virulent to their natural hosts.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: O'Shea
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Cryan
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Anthony R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fooks
authors.forename: David T S
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Hayman
authors.forename: Angela D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Luis
authors.forename: Alison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Peel
authors.forename: Raina K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Plowright
authors.forename: James L N
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001831:Body Temperature; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000821:virology; D005334:Fever; D005426:Flight, Animal; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*
keywords: Chiroptera; bats; body temperature; emerging zoonotic viruses; fever; flight; mammals; metabolic rate
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