Bats with covid-19? Pennsylvania researchers are trying to find out

The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine is studying if covid-19 has been contracted by local bats who are recovering from white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungus that has been decimating populations.

If the state’s fragile but recovering bat population contracts covid-19, it could create another stressor for the night flying mammal with a spooky reputation but is essential to the ecosystem. One bat can eat 4,500 mosquito-sized insects per night, potentially lessening the spread of West Nile virus and multitude of insect bites to humans. There are nine species of bats in Pennsylvania.

Eman Anis, a microbiologist with the New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, is leading a study on North American bats in captivity to gauge the presence of the virus that causes covid-19.

The researchers want to test the guano, or bat droppings, from more than 200 bats at wildlife rehabilitation centers in the state. They hope to verify that the bats at rehab facilities will not transmit the disease, according to Penn Today, a university publication.

“With disease, humans, animals and the environment can all play key roles in transmitting and maintaining harmful pathogens. Identifying the role that each plays can be the first step in understanding how to stop or prevent further harm,” said Lisa Murphy, associate professor of toxicology and director of the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System-New Bolton Center.

Murphy, along with Julie Ellis, an adjunct associate professor of pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania, are working on the study.

There is no evidence that North American bat populations currently harbor the coronavirus or other viruses, but there is a possibility that humans could transmit disease to bats, Anis said in Penn Today. She added that she wouldn’t want the bats to have a way to transfer it back to humans.

Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine has been collaborating with the Pennsylvania Game Commission since 2019 on the Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program to address wildlife health problems. The research team, which includes Greg Turner, a wildlife biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Bureau of Wildlife Management, will shift to using a a rapid diagnostic test using bat guano sent from local wildlife rehabilitation centers

Turner has spent the last 16 years documenting and saving the state’s bat population from habitat loss and white-nose syndrome. The fungus is found in places where bats hibernate.

Bats are able to be a reservoir for most coronavirus strains, according to Turner, so they are likely to contract covid-19. If the bats catch the virus, it will be another threat to the bats, which have already sustained population losses.