Science News Bats have become the latest mammals susceptible to H5N1, the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus responsible for bird flu.
In Peru, over a dozen vampire bats have been found carrying H5N1 antibodies, indicating exposure to the virus, researchers report November 11 at bioRxiv.org. The finding is “very worrisome,” says Vincent Munster, a virus ecologist at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., who was not involved in the study. Each time the virus jumps to a new mammalian host, he says, it gains opportunities to mutate and evolve, potentially bringing it closer to spreading among people. And vampire bats may not be the only bat species at risk. Preliminary findings from Bangladesh indicate that 16 flying foxes, large fruit-eating bats with foxlike faces, appear to have died from bird flu, says Munster, who is investigating those deaths.