By catching bats, these ‘virus hunters’ hope to stop the next pandemic

By catching bats, these ‘virus hunters’ hope to stop the next pandemic

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Researchers wearing headlamps and protective suits race to untangle the claws and wings of bats caught up in a big net after dark in the Philippine province of Laguna.

The tiny animals are carefully placed in cloth bags to be taken away, measured and swabbed, with details logged and saliva and faecal matter collected for analysis before they are returned to the wild.

. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Left: Cloth bags containing captured bats are hung outside a building with a bat roost at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.
Right: Bat ecologist Phillip Alviola checks the wing of a bat.

The researchers call themselves the "virus hunters", tasked with catching thousands of bats to develop a simulation model they hope will help the world avoid a pandemic similar to COVID-19, which has killed nearly 2.8 million people.

The Japanese-funded model will be developed over the next three years by the University of the Philippines Los Banos, which hopes the bats will help in predicting the dynamics of a coronavirus by analysing factors such as climate, temperature and ease of spread, to humans included.

. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Left: Alviola catches a bat caught on a mist net set up in front of a building with a bat roost at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.
Right: A bat is caught on a mist net.

"What we're trying to look into are other strains of coronavirus that have the potential to jump to humans," said ecologist Philip Alviola, the leader of the group, who has studied bat viruses for more than a decade.

"If we know the virus itself and we know where it came from, we know how to isolate that virus geographically."

. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez
"As we continue to gain close contact with wildlife, we are deliberately exposing ourselves to diseases and danger. If we cannot stop this, we might as well develop measures of control to reduce the impacts of possible future outbreaks, at the very least. That is why this research is important. By having the baseline data on the nature and occurrence of the potentially zoonotic virus in bats, we can somehow predict possible outbreaks and establish suitable, sound, and science-based health protocols," said bat ecologist Kirk Taray.

Beyond work in the laboratory, the research requires lengthy field trips, involving traipsing for hours through thick rainforest and precarious night hikes on mountains covered in rocks, tree roots, mud and moss.

The group also targets bat roosts in buildings, setting up mist nets before dusk to catch bats and extract samples by the light of torches.

. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez
Alviola holds a bat captured from Mount Makiling.

Each bat is held steady by the head as researchers insert tiny swabs into their mouths and record wingspans with plastic rulers, to try and see which of the more than 1,300 species and 20 families of bats are most susceptible to infections and why.

Researchers wear protective suits, masks and gloves when in contact with the bats, as a precaution against catching viruses.

. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez
"I get to teach students and remain a student myself. It's fun. Being in the field even for 24 hours beats being in the office from eight to five," Cosico said.

"It's really scary these days," said Edison Cosico, who is assisting Alviola. "You never know if the bat is already a carrier.

"What we're after is finding out if there are any more viruses from bats that can be transmitted to humans. We'll never know if the next one is just like COVID."

The bulk of those caught are horseshoe bats known to harbour coronaviruses, including the closest known relative of the novel coronavirus.

. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Left: Alviola and Cosico sit and wait besides a mist net that they set up near a bat roost.
Right: A mist net hangs in a forest at Mount Makiling.

Horseshoe bats figure in two of the scenarios of World Health Organization experts investigating the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

Host species, such as bats, usually display no symptoms of the pathogens, although they can be devastating if transmitted to humans or other animals.

Deadly viruses to have originated from bats include Ebola and other coronaviruses, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez
"With the ongoing pandemic, there is more caution taken into consideration while studying bats. Several measures and protocols are established to protect both the researchers and the bats. Also, the community quarantine and travel restrictions added difficulty especially in accessing potential areas of study," said Taray.

Humans' exposure and closer interaction with wildlife meant the risk of disease transmission was now higher than ever, said bat ecologist Kirk Taray.

"By having baseline data on the nature and occurrence of the potentially zoonotic virus in bats, we can somehow predict possible outbreaks."

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Slideshow

Alviola hikes towards a bat roost.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Alviola hikes towards a bat roost.

"My goals are to encounter all the bat species in the Philippines and document their echolocation calls and survey the bats in different areas of the country, especially in Mindanao," said Taray.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

"My goals are to encounter all the bat species in the Philippines and document their echolocation calls and survey the bats in different areas of the country, especially in Mindanao," said Taray.

A bat roost.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

A bat roost.

Virus hunters prepare to protect themselves from exposure to bats.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Virus hunters prepare to protect themselves from exposure to bats.

Bat ecologist Kirk Taray, holds onto a bat caught on a mist net. "I am still starting with this career and I am planning to continue doing this as long as I can. A lot about bats is still unknown to science and I have many years ahead of me to contribute and shorten that information gap," he said.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Bat ecologist Kirk Taray, holds onto a bat caught on a mist net. "I am still starting with this career and I am planning to continue doing this as long as I can. A lot about bats is still unknown to science and I have many years ahead of me to contribute and shorten that information gap," he said.

Ryan Llamas, a field assistant, detangles a bat that was caught on a mist net.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Ryan Llamas, a field assistant, detangles a bat that was caught on a mist net.

Alviola measures a bat.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Alviola measures a bat.

Alviola takes a rectal swab from a bat.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Alviola takes a rectal swab from a bat.

A scientist holds on to a mist net.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

A scientist holds on to a mist net.

Alviola attempts to catch a bat that was caught on a mist net that was set up in front of a building with a bat roost at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Alviola attempts to catch a bat that was caught on a mist net that was set up in front of a building with a bat roost at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.

Cosico holds a taxidermy of a flying fox in the Rabor Wildlife Collection stored at The Institute of Biological Sciences, in the University of Philippines Los Banos.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Cosico holds a taxidermy of a flying fox in the Rabor Wildlife Collection stored at The Institute of Biological Sciences, in the University of Philippines Los Banos.

Hundreds of bat taxidermy from the Rabor Wildlife Collection are  maintained at The Institute of Biological Sciences. Dioscoro Rabor was a zoologist and world-renowned ornithologist, and known to be the father of Philippine Wildlife.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Hundreds of bat taxidermy from the Rabor Wildlife Collection are maintained at The Institute of Biological Sciences. Dioscoro Rabor was a zoologist and world-renowned ornithologist, and known to be the father of Philippine Wildlife.

A taxidermy of a flying fox is pictured in the Rabor Wildlife Collection.
. Laguna, Philippines. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

A taxidermy of a flying fox is pictured in the Rabor Wildlife Collection.