As one who has studied bats worldwide for 60 years, I’m deeply concerned regarding the near avalanche of recent articles that needlessly frighten the public into intolerance of bats and lead to exceptionally large funding requests that prominent epidemiologists believe will actually harm public health by diverting limited resources. Kerry Grens’s article, “Newly Identified Virus Similar to Ebola, Marburg,” on January 9 in The Scientist will aid in the waste of public health funds while spreading needless fear of some of the world’s most valuable and endangered animals. Long repeated claims, such as those in her article, that virus hunters can predict and protect us from pandemics are without foundation, as are their speculations of bats as uniquely dangerous disease reservoirs.
Robert Tesh, director of the World Reference Center of Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses and a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, has candidly pointed out how claims ...
