Lurking in the Shadows

Bats harbor diverse pathogens, including Ebola, Marburg, SARS, and MERS viruses. Understanding why could help researchers stymie deadly emerging diseases.

| 14 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
14:00
Share

© INGO SCHULZ/IMAGEBROKER/CORBIS

In a dusty, subterranean room beneath a crumbling sand building a few miles north of Naqi, Saudi Arabia, EcoHealth Alliance veterinary epidemiologist Jon Epstein finally found what he was looking for: bats. It was early October 2012; he’d travelled to the country with a team of scientists at the request of the Saudi Ministry of Health. A researcher in Jedda had isolated RNA from a strange virus found in the mucus coughed up by a 60-year-old Saudi businessman who’d recently suffered acute pneumonia and renal failure. The man, whose main place of business was located in Naqi, died 11 days after being admitted into the hospital in mid-June.

Epstein and Columbia University epidemiologist Ian Lipkin had been scouring the man’s homes and businesses around the desert town of Bishah in search of the source of the deadly virus. They were intent on sampling bats because a Saudi scientist had determined the new virus to be a novel type of coronavirus, a family of rapidly evolving viruses that includes the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Both Lipkin and Epstein had worked extensively on SARS when it ripped through southern China and Hong Kong in 2002 and 2003. That disease eventually spread to some 33 countries, infected more than 8,000 people, and killed more than 800. The disease detectives had been investigating bats as a possible natural reservoir for SARS-CoV, and last year, after more than a decade of work, Epstein and colleagues announced the discovery of a nearly identical coronavirus, with the crucial ability to infect human cells, in the Chinese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus). They speculated that the bats could have been directly infecting humans, without the need for an intermediate host, throughout the course of the SARS epidemic.1

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Bob Grant

    From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer.

Published In

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio 
Zymo Research

Zymo Research Launches Microbiome Grant to Support Innovation in Microbial Sciences