A group of scientists has been on a Coronavirus hunt in the caves of China where hundreds of thousands of bats are supposed to live.
Going into these dark limestones caves surrounded by bamboo trees, is an extremely dangerous adventure. Scientists are doing it because they believe this is where the COVID-19 originally came from and perhaps examining its relatives and ancestors will give a clue into how we can develop a cure for the lethal Coronavirus that has been killing people all over the world.
Scientists are taking lethal risks to enter these bat caves
These caves are located in China’s Yunnan province, and that is where the scientists have set up camp. They set up nets on the cave openings and then they walk inside while equipped with headlights and hazmat suits, face masks and thick gloves.
They make sure that not a single inch of their body is left exposed. Because even a small expose to bat dropping or urine could infect them with some of the most deadly viruses that we don’t even know about.
After the scientists enter the caves, they wait for the sundown and then the bats begin to fly around – eventually getting caught in the nets.
They have collected 500 new types of Coronaviruses
Now comes the more dangerous part, the bats are given anaesthesia to make them unconscious, and then the scientists extract their blood. They also check the bats with oral swabs and faecal swabs, collect their urine and droppings – according to Dr Peter Daszak who is overseeing this operation.
“We collected more than 15,000 bat samples, which led to the identification of around 500 new coronaviruses.”
They also found the ancestor of COVID-19 which was already identified in 2013 in a Chinese cave.
There are 15,000 types of Coronaviruses in existence
After collecting the viruses, the scientists examine the DNA of the virus – trying to find out if it’s an unknown virus or a known one. They also check which viruses are more likely to infect humans, which viruses are more contagious, and which ones will be relatively harmless.
The more terrifying part is that scientists estimate there are at least 15,000 types of Coronaviruses. And we only know about a few hundred of them.
Why are the Coronaviruses only coming from China?
Most of these cave examinations are conducted in the caves of China since these are the areas where the largest bat population in the world lives.
But Coronavirus doesn’t directly jump from bats to humans unless humans come into contact with bat urine or droppings, it needs an intermediate animal which can transfer the virus to humans. For example, a civet cat in the case of SARS and pangolins in the case of COVID-19.
These areas are also under scrutiny because of growing human population here that is replacing wildlife, and this kind of encounter usually ends up with spillover of dangerous viruses, according to Dr Dawn Zimmerman of Smithsonian Institute.
Why does Coronavirus only live inside Bats?
Dr Daszak explains why bats are the common hosts for Coronavirus rather than any other animal:
“Because bats are flying mammals, their body is exposed to a lot of stress, which would normally generate an immune system response. To deal with this, they have to tone down their immune systems, which in turn makes them more susceptible to viruses and capable of tolerating a higher viral load.”
Another possible reason is the bats, along with rats, are two of the most populous mammals of the world – even more than humans. And since they live in crowded areas such as caves, trees, and other dark places – the spread of infection among them is fast.
Bat blood can help in developing a vaccine
The main reason behind this kind of cave expedition is that scientists are trying to map out the areas of the world which are at high risk for contracting viral infections, and then educating the locals about how they can protect themselves from such viruses.
But most of these bats remain alive despite carrying high concentration of Coronavirus, so they already have plasma and antibodies which can resist the Coronavirus.
“The blood samples taken from the bats contain antibodies, which they produced to fight off the virus. These could serve as the basis for the development of a vaccine or a plasma treatment against a new pathogen.”
All Featured Images Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute