Ecological dynamics of emerging bat virus spillover.
Viruses that originate in bats may be the most notorious emerging zoonoses that spill over from wildlife into domestic animals and humans. Understanding how these infections filter through ecological systems to cause disease in humans is of profound importance to public health. Transmission of viruses from bats to humans requires a hierarchy of enabling conditions that connect the distribution of reservoir hosts, viral infection within these hosts, and exposure and susceptibility of recipient hosts. For many emerging bat viruses, spillover also requires viral shedding from bats, and survival of the virus in the environment. Focusing on Hendra virus, but also addressing Nipah virus, Ebola virus, Marburg virus and coronaviruses, we delineate this cross-species spillover dynamic from the within-host processes that drive virus excretion to land-use changes that increase interaction among species. We describe how land-use changes may affect co-occurrence and contact between bats and recipient hosts. Two hypotheses may explain temporal and spatial pulses of virus shedding in bat populations: episodic shedding from persistently infected bats or transient epidemics that occur as virus is transmitted among bat populations. Management of livestock also may affect the probability of exposure and disease. Interventions to decrease the probability of virus spillover can be implemented at multiple levels from targeting the reservoir host to managing recipient host exposure and susceptibility.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA raina.plowright@montana.edu.
Raina K
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3338-6590
RK
Plowright
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
Peggy
P
Eby
Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA.
Peter J
PJ
Hudson
New and Emerging Zoonotic Diseases, CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, East Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia.
Ina L
IL
Smith
CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and Tropical Environment and Sustainability Sciences, James Cook University, Atherton, Queensland 4883, Australia.
David
D
Westcott
Equine Research Unit, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia.
Wayne L
WL
Bryden
New and Emerging Zoonotic Diseases, CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, East Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia.
Deborah
D
Middleton
Equine Veterinary Surgeon, Brisbane, Queensland 4034, Australia.
Peter A
PA
Reid
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia.
Rosemary A
RA
McFarlane
School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
Gerardo
G
Martin
Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Bozeman, MT 59771, USA.
Gary M
GM
Tabor
School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
Lee F
LF
Skerratt
Equine Research Unit, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia.
Dale L
DL
Anderson
New and Emerging Zoonotic Diseases, CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, East Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia.
Gary
G
Crameri
414 South Third Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59715, USA.
David
D
Quammen
New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 1423 Bruxner Highway, Wollongbar, New South Wales 2477, Australia.
David
D
Jordan
New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 1423 Bruxner Highway, Wollongbar, New South Wales 2477, Australia.
Paul
P
Freeman
New and Emerging Zoonotic Diseases, CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, East Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore 169857.
Lin-Fa
LF
Wang
EcoHealth Alliance, New York, NY 10001, USA.
Jonathan H
JH
Epstein
New and Emerging Zoonotic Diseases, CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, East Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia.
Glenn A
GA
Marsh
Animal Biosecurity and Welfare Program, Biosecurity Queensland, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
Nina Y
NY
Kung
Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Brisbane 4111, Australia.
Hamish
H
McCallum
D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011793:Queensland; D012327:RNA Virus Infections / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D012328:RNA Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology
Ebola virus; Hendra virus in flying-foxes; Marburg virus; Nipah virus; emerging infectious diseases of bat origin; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus