Ivan V Kuzmin, Brooke Bozick, Sarah A Guagliardo, Rebekah Kunkel, Joshua R Shak, Suxiang Tong, Charles E Rupprecht
The significance of bats as sources of emerging infectious diseases has been increasingly appreciated, and new data have been accumulated rapidly during recent years. For some emerging pathogens the bat origin has been confirmed (such as lyssaviruses, henipaviruses, coronaviruses), for other it has been suggested (filoviruses). Several recently identified viruses remain to be 'orphan' but have a potential for further emergence (such as Tioman, Menangle, and Pulau viruses). In the present review we summarize information on major bat-associated emerging infections and discuss specific characteristics of bats as carriers of pathogens (from evolutionary, ecological, and immunological positions)...
June 20, 2011: Emerging Health Threats Journal