Virology and Immunology of Bats

Bats harbor many pathogens of veterinary and human health concern, including several emerging and reemerging viruses such as lyssaviruses, filoviruses, henipaviruses, and SARS-like coronaviruses. Despite immune responses to these viruses, many bats remain infected without disease and likely shed virus to other bats and mammals. Little is known about bat immune systems or how the immune responses of bats control infections. The recent characterization of genome and transcriptome sequences of several bat species suggests they are similar to other mammals. These data indicate that bats possess orthologous genes, antibodies, and cells involved in innate and adaptive immune responses as do other mammals, but bats likely evolved unique mechanisms for controlling viruses that cause disease in other species. It is unclear how these diseases affect bat ecology, and thus, a greater understanding of immunology and infection is needed to understand health impact on bats.