Potential risk of viral transmission from flying foxes to domestic animals and humans on the southern coast of West Java, Indonesia

BASRI, Chaerul; ARIFIN, Eko Muhammad Zainal; TAKEMAE, Hitoshi; HENGJAN, Yupadee; IIDA, Keisuke; SUDARNIKA, Etih; ZAHID, Abdul; SOEJOEDONO, Retno Damayanti; SUSETYA, Heru; SUMIARTO, Bambang; KOBAYASHI, Ryosuke; AGUNGPRIYONO, Srihadi; HONDO, Eiichi

People living near bat roosting sites have mostly poor to moderate knowledge levels about bats and rabies. Public knowledge in this area must be improved, considering that flying foxes frequently enter residential areas and come in contact with humans. Local communities and relevant government offices must equip the local population with appropriate knowledge, to prevent infectious disease from flying foxes. A study on human attitudes and public opinion in Australia about flying foxes and Hendra virus showed that most people already have moderate to high [14] . Nevertheless, only a few people in Garut believe that flying foxes can directly transmit infectious viruses to humans. Information on the involvement of bats in transmission of zoonotic diseases remains limited in that region, perhaps because no serious endemic zoonotic infectious diseases mediated by flying foxes have appeared in Garut. On the other hand, programs to increase awareness of bats being carriers of serious pathogens have not been established in Indonesia. With respect to the risk of human exposure to pathogens carried by bats in Thailand, Robertson et al. found that only a small proportion (11%) of people consider bats a potential source of rabies [25] . Although 27% of participants in that study had a history of being bitten or scratched by a bat, 36% of them took no action or did not know what to do in such cases. Based on these findings, it is highly recommended that people are educated on the risk of zoonoses from bats in Southeast Asian countries.