Immune System Modulation and Viral Persistence in Bats: Understanding Viral Spillover

Subudhi, Sonu; Rapin, Noreen; Misra, Vikram

A study done by Sohayati et al. [41] , done on captive large flying foxes (also known as Malayan flying fox; Pteropus vampyrus), showed the possibility of recrudescence of Nipah virus (NiV). Regular sampling was done for over a period of one year to study the presence of virus and level of antibody against it. The authors discovered that one bat had a waning antibody titer with subsequent detection of virus in the urine. Following virus shedding, the antibody levels increased in this animal. As virus was undetectable in earlier samples of the same bat, the authors suggest that the virus may have persisted, probably in certain organs or cells, rendering it undetectable in blood, throat swab or urine. Within two weeks after NiV was isolated from the bat, two other male bats seroconverted and demonstrated an increase in antibody titers, suggesting that recrudescence led to horizontal transmission.