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Bats are a key source of human viruses — but they’re not special

Statistical analyses suggest that surveillance efforts for the next pandemic look beyond the flying mammals.
  1. Clare Watson
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Bats and rodents are considered high-risk viral reservoirs — a source for diseases that can hop over to humans, and sometimes lead to epidemics. Some scientists have even argued that the animals have certain traits that increase the likelihood of spillover events from animal to people, and that they should be monitored more closely as a result. But a new analysis suggests that bats and rodents are “unexceptional” in their propensity to host viruses that infect humans.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01096-z

References

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