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West Africans frequently exposed to bats carrying zoonotic viruses
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Before the Ebola outbreak, nearly half of West Africans surveyed routinely visited bat caves and ate bat meat, according to research published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“The 2014-2015 outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa demonstrates how human-bat interactions in even remote locations can trigger infection chains that affect global public health and strain the national health care systems in Africa,” Christian Drosten, PhD, professor and head of the Institute of Virology at the University of Bonn, Germany, and colleagues wrote. “In Ghana, bats carry potentially zoonotic viruses including lyssa-, corona-, henipa-, and filoviruses.” Drosten and colleagues studied three communities in Ghana during 2011 and 2012 — Kwamang (population, 8,000), Forikrom (population, 3,800) and Buoyem (population, 3,900) — where they interviewed local leaders on customs involving bats and bat caves, and provided questionnaires to residents. The researchers received 1,274 responses.
Almost 47% of respondents said they visited bat caves frequently; 45.6% said they consumed bats; and 37.4% said they had been bitten, scratched or exposed to the urine of a bat. About one in six respondents reported coming into contact with bats during the normal course of the day or at work. According to the researchers, two-thirds of respondents said they had some type of contact with bats. Regular human activity was reported in all of the observed caves, many of which were used as spiritual sanctuaries, the researchers wrote.
Several of the insectivorous bat species identified in caves regularly carry coronaviruses, hantaviruses, paramyxoviruses — including henipavirus — and filoviruses.
“The deliberate entry into bat caves represents a prevalent behavior that could be influenced by community-level education in the aftermath of the ongoing outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa. Another obvious target is widespread bat meat trade and consumption,” Drosten and colleagues wrote. “Further research will be necessary for understanding belief systems and developing acceptable guidance for rural communities exposed to bats because of traditional and spiritual reasons.” – by David Jwanier
Disclosure: Infectious Disease News was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.
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