Abstract
While bats are often viewed as carriers of infectious disease agents, little research has been conducted on the effects these potential pathogens may have on the bat populations themselves. The southern bent-winged bat (Miniopterus orianae bassanii) is a critically endangered subspecies endemic to south-eastern Australia. Population numbers of this bat have been declining for the past 50 years, but the reasons for this are unclear. As part of a larger study to determine if disease could be a contributing factor to this decline, 351 southern bent-winged bats from four locations were captured, and oral swabs were collected and tested for the presence of potentially pathogenic viruses. Results were compared with those obtained from 116 eastern bent-winged bats (Miniopterus orianae oceanensis) from three different locations. The eastern bent-winged bat is a related but more common and widespread subspecies whose geographical range overlaps partly with southern bent-winged bats. Herpesviruses were detected in bent-winged bats from all seven locations. At least six novel herpesviruses (five betaherpesviruses and one gammaherpesvirus) were identified. The prevalence of herpesvirus infection was higher in eastern bent-winged bats (44%, 51/116), compared to southern bent-winged bats (27%, 95/351), although this varied across the locations and sampling periods. Adenoviruses and a range of different RNA viruses (lyssaviruses, filoviruses, coronaviruses and henipaviruses) were also tested for but not detected. The detected herpesviruses did not appear to be associated with obvious ill health, and may thus not be playing a role in the population decline of the southern bent-winged bat. The detection of multiple novel herpesviruses at a high prevalence of infection is consistent with our understanding of bats as hosts to a rich diversity of viruses.
Highlights
Infectious diseases were believed to be of minimal significance in species population declines
An International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report listed 833 species extinctions over the past 500 years and attributed only 3.7% of these to infectious disease [1]. This low percentage of extinctions caused by infectious disease may be partly due to the past use of less sophisticated diagnostic techniques to detect infectious agents, as it is becoming apparent that the effects of urbanization, human population growth, altered land use, deforestation, reduced biodiversity and global trade are leading to an increase in infectious disease incidence and impact [2]
These same factors are increasing the frequency of disease transmission between humans, domestic animals and wildlife [2, 3] resulting in a dramatic rise in both emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses [4]
Summary
Infectious diseases were believed to be of minimal significance in species population declines. An International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report listed 833 species extinctions over the past 500 years and attributed only 3.7% of these to infectious disease [1] This low percentage of extinctions caused by infectious disease may be partly due to the past use of less sophisticated diagnostic techniques to detect infectious agents, as it is becoming apparent that the effects of urbanization, human population growth, altered land use, deforestation, reduced biodiversity and global trade are leading to an increase in infectious disease incidence and impact [2]. Of particular note is an event involving the mass mortality of thousands of bent-winged bats (Miniopterus schreibersii) in France, Spain and Portugal in 2002 [7]. Its significance in the mortality event was unclear, herpesviruses have been found asymptomatically in a number of different bat species, in addition to bent-winged bats [9,10,11,12,13,14]
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