About Bats...even more. Hopefully someone out there appreciate the further research into the current outbreak, and some science where it all seems to start.

[link to www.sciencemag.org]

Bats really do harbor more dangerous viruses than other species

That debate may finally be over. A broad look at all viruses known to infect mammals suggests that bats are, indeed, more likely to carry unknown pathogens that can wreak havoc on humans. Surprisingly, the study comes from researchers who until now were bat doubters. “As a scientist, you accept the results of your own study—even if they prove you wrong!” says disease ecologist Peter Daszak of the EcoHealth Alliance in New York City, a senior author on the new study.

Daszak's group started out trying to answer a broader question: Where should scientists concentrate efforts to find as-yet-unknown viruses threatening humanity? Most emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses, diseases that originate in animals, and some may have the potential to trigger massive epidemics. But there are thousands of species of mammals, potentially carrying hundreds of thousands of viruses—so where do you start?

In their next step, the scientists looked only at the 188 known zoonotic viruses, agents that have been found in humans and at least one other mammal. Even after accounting for factors that would increase zoonotic virus load—how closely the animal is related to humans or how much its habitat overlaps with cities, for example—bats host a significantly higher proportion of zoonoses than other mammals, the researchers report today in Nature. They estimate that there are about 17 zoonoses yet to be discovered in every bat species versus about 10 for rodent and primate species.

But that's no reason to fear or fight them, he adds. Bats have many useful roles, from pollinating flowers to controlling insects. And virus outbreaks are not inevitable as long as humans keep their distance. "These viruses will only emerge in people if we continue encroaching into bat habitat, hunting and eating them, and otherwise making contact with them,” Daszak says.

Just what makes bats special is still unclear; there are many competing hypotheses, from a primitive immune system to echolocation creating droplet clouds that help spread viruses. The next debate is about to take off.