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

Subudhi, Sonu; Rapin, Noreen; Misra, Vikram

To further bolster the claim of viral persistence in wild bats, a population level study was performed to understand the circulation of zoonotic viruses in bat populations and the involved immune mechanisms (maternal antibody and acquired immune response) using mathematical modelling [45] . The study used sero-surveillance of an African henipavirus in straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum). While repeated introduction of virus and birthing of pups might drive viral dynamics in a large panmictic population of bats, prolonged infectious periods or latent infection of bats are required to explain henipavirus persistence in small populations (natural or colony of captive). They found that if repeated introduction of virus into small populations was the only mechanism, then acute infections would have to be~40 days in duration. This estimate is considerably longer than the current estimates of the detectable infectious period for henipaviruses in fruit bats, which is approximately 7 days [46] . Therefore, prolonged or latent infection has to occur in some bats for describing persistence of henipavirus in small populations.