THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT CORONA VIRUS BATS
Greetings, friends!
I'd like to answer these questions in the video today And I spoke to a researcher who specializes in bats, especially for the purpose of this video His name is Rohit Chakravarty -So Rohit, you're a bat researcher It's called- I was trying to pronounce it- chiropterologist. Is that correct? -Chiropterologist -Okay! -So you're a Chiropterologist, which means that you are researching on bats and are doing a PhD on them The first question I'd like to ask you is that we've heard on the news that the corona virus originated from bats So do bats spread it? Is it right for the people to get scared of bats? -Not at all! Because the virus that causes the COVID 19 disease SARS COV 2, which is also called the novel corona virus
A virus related to that has been found in bats And when I say it has been found in bats, I'm talking about specifically one species And in total, there are more than 1400 species of bats in the world So an ancestor of SARS COV 2 has been found in one out of the 1400 species of bats Recently, ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) came out with a new report that said that a new corona virus has been discovered in bats, which is quite similar to SARS COV 2 (SARS COV 2)- the virus which is spreading COVID 19 all across the world today This headline scared people and they thought that since the virus is found in bats, they can infect us too The bats too, can spread corona virus But the people did not read the news in detail
The detail is that the corona virus found in bats is similar (and not the same) This virus cannot infect humans It cannot be transmitted to humans and neither can you contract COVID 19 from it - The virus in bats is different and SARS COV 2 is different. (the latter) is completely a human virus -But why is it being said that SARS COV 2 originated from bats? -Because the virus I'm talking about... The virus in bats, which is similar to SARS COV 2 Scientists believe that the corona virus is an ancestor of SARS COV 2 And this virus.. -
So this is the reason why it is being concluded in the news that probably, bats are the likely source of SARS COV2 -Yes, bats could be its likely source It is believed by the scientists that this virus got transmitted from the bats into another animal and right now, evidence largely points that it got transmitted into the pangolin And pangolin, which is a very rare animal, is the world's most trafficked animal This animal is traded most widely in wildlife trade today And if this hypothesis is correct, then it proves that wildlife trade might also have a connection with this -Does this mean that the bats cannot transmit this virus to humans directly, even if bats are the source? -Absolutely -So even if there is a bat which has SARS COV 2, it cannot transmit us the virus directly -Yes. So, first of all, bats cannot have SARS COV 2 because SARS COV 2 is our virus- it is a human virus So they are its source in the wildlife,
but it modified itself while transmission from one animal to another and the virus found in bats, which is similar to SARS COV 2, is called RATG 13 It is a different virus As per scientific evidence, it got transmitted to the pangolin, and when it got transmitted to humans from the pangolins, then it became SARS COV 2 -So what you're saying basically is, if a virus originates in bats, then it cannot be transmitted to humans directly. Is it necessary for another animal to act as a medium ? -Not in all cases. But in around 90% of the cases in the outbreaks that we've seen before, the virus has been transmitted to another animal from bats And this other animal has mostly been an animal which is either hunted on a very large scale or which is farmed on a very large scale -So either there is wildlife trading of the animal or it is farmed. So, although a lot of viruses originate in bats, this does not mean that the bats can directly infect the humans
There is an intermediate host in almost all cases Bats infect an intermediate animal and then humans are infected by that intermediate animal For instance, in the case of ebola, the scientists believe that this virus originated in bats which then got transmitted to chimpanzees or deer and then spread to humans from there So first, there was an intermediate host- a chimpanzee or a deer - So it is okay for people to be afraid of bats or not ?
There is no need to be afraid of bats -Absolutely not. I'm not saying that you should embrace a bat or keep it as a pet Bats are wild animals. Let them thrive in their niche while we stay in ours But regarding diseases, particularly the COVID 19, there is no need to be afraid of bats Bats are wild creatures And there is a simple way to co exist with every wild animal- be it a rat or a snake or a tiger Let them thrive in their niche while you stay in yours Even if there is a bat outside your home let it be. It will feed on something and leave. It won't harm you at all. Even in my house, bats lived in places where I couldn't even look for them Once, my pet dog found a bat So despite living in our homes, they keep themselves so isolated that they do not harm us at all -Can they not bite at night? I would be afraid of them biting me -Bats will bite only when you disturb them And this is my job. Since I am a researcher,
I have to catch bats They bite to defend themselves But bats will not come and bite you like mosquitoes -So they will not bite you while you sleep at night? -Absolutely not -Bats are so afraid of humans that they will not come close even if they are around They will live in a separate part of the house if they live in the house -So if bats are living in our rooms, then there is not need to remove them or disturb them -I feel that if the bats are living in your room, then you can call a professional rehabilitator Even if you simply post it on Facebook, There is a rehabilitator (in every big city atleast) They can come and take out the bats safely Nobody would want another animal to live within the house But bats do not take up a lot of space. Even if you put them outside, on the walls outside your room, they will find their own way and will find a new home for themselves But there is no need to kill them -Okay.
But I read in the news that there are so many diseases that bats carry- ebola, rabies, nipah All of these have come from bats in one way or another -Focus on transmission more than origin. Alright? Nipah virus can spread from bats only when they've eaten a fruit They chew the fruit and then throw it And if you make the mistake of picking up a dropped fruit and eating it, then you have chances of contracting the Nipah virus And not only bats, if you come into contact with the saliva of any animal that is, you directly consume a contaminated thing- then you will contract some disease if not Nipah, for sure -So this is an indirect transmission in a way. Because the bats do not bite directly and we do not contract it by touching It is only spreading through the saliva- when we consume something eaten by them -Exactly You can contract Nipah from bats. But you can contract something else from other animals -
So, if it is spreading through the saliva, can it also spread through excretion? -There are no reports of Nipah spreading through excretion In the case of corona virus, it is almost... Scientists have conducted a lot of studies and there is a very small chance of corona virus spreading through excreta Because the quantity of virus in the excreta of bats tells us that the number of corona viruses or any other virus is very few They cannot infect -Why is that all these viruses originate in bats only? -There are two reasons for this actually Firstly, the immune system of bats is extremely strong and bats are the sole mammals that fly A unique feature about bats is that they have a very strong immune system This is the reason why most of these viruses originate in bats Because the viruses get a live host and a transmitter that can transmit it to other animals -So if the immune system of the bats is so string, can it be used to develop a vaccine in some way?
-Absolutely. You made a very valid point Several labs are studying the immune system of the bats Also, the bats live for quite long. They weigh 5-6 grams and live for 20-30 years They live longer than even tigers A lot of people have been studying all this Most of the people consider bats to be pests- like flies, mosquitoes and rats But bats are an extremely important animal species in reality It has two important functions
The first is pollination of flowers and fruits And the second is control of pests And this function is very important especially in farm and agriculture areas Because the extent to which the bats control the pests by eating mosquitoes and insects cannot be done even by the pesticides Scientists have estimated that the cocoa farmers in Indonesia the worth of the help that the bats do in controlling their pests is worth 800 million US dollars Had it not been for the bats, the farmers would have to spend this much money annually for pest control in their farms Similarly, it has been estimated that in the US, the bats save 22 billion US dollars every year for the corn farmers in pest control So you can imagine how much the population of the mosquitoes and insects will grow in the absence of bats And if it does happen- if the population of bats would drop in an area, then it'd mean that the population of mosquitoes in that area would be more and the diseases spread by them would also rise. For instance- dengue and Chikungunya -
A cyclone hit us recently. But this time, the cyclone travelled through a path besides the mangroves but if the cyclones travel through the mangroves, they control the force of the cyclones to a large extent Bats are the creatures that pollinate the flowers of the mangroves the most So this is very important function of the bats And secondly, the insect eating bats... -So this means that bats are responsible for saving the mangroves So it is very essential to save the bats (in order to deal with ) the future natural disasters -Absolutely. The bats help in the spread of mangroves And if the mangroves are kept intact along the coasts then it would increase the chances of staying safe from natural calamities like cyclones So the real reason behind the spread of the corona virus is global wildlife trade
The capturing and sale of animals illegally Sometimes for traditional Chinese medicine and sometimes to be used as luxury food As for the example of Pangolin, most experts believe that it is the intermediate host in the spread of corona This virus got transmitted from the bats to the pangolins and finally infected humans Pangolin is the world's most trafficked animal This is the extent to which it is illegally trafficked So we need to put an end to things like this if we want to stop the spread of diseases -All the animals around you have some kind of virus or the other But what is important is how the virus gets transmitted to humans Almost all viruses get transmitted to humans mostly due to human activities
For example, say the bats are widely hunted or if you are trading them from one place to another Another reason is habitat destruction The axing of forests For example, our government recently gave permission for coal mining in the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve How will things work out if forests are cut down like this? Y
ou will have to raise your voice on issues like this Run a trend on twitter about Dehing Patkai. Spread word about this so that the governments don't do things like this and there is awareness amongst the people - I have a request from the government that ever since the Wildlife Protection act was passed in 1972 until today, only two species of bats are protected in India today And there are a lot of species on the verge of extinction So the government needs to extend protection to them immediately That is, they need to be involved in the Wildlife Protection act and there's an urgent need for this Bats are important creatures.
They are not pests like they are believed to be We will have to protect them keeping their importance in mind I hope you would have found this video to be informative. Share it for public awareness so that this information reaches more and more people And so that the people are not afraid of bats or atleast do not kill them
We will meet again in the next video Thank you
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