Evidence Of Filovirus And Henipavirus In Bats And Bat Harvesters, India

Purpose: Bats are reservoirs of several medically-important viruses. There has been little research on bat-borne viruses in India. The northeast state of Nagaland in India is a mountainous region where bushmeat is a key source of protein. Bats are hunted by several groups there and this provides an opportunity for cross-species transmission. Methods & Materials: Our work examines sites with intense human-bat interfaces, such as traditional bat harvests in India. Here we collected 121 serum samples from three species of bats harvested from across the region and 85 human serum samples from individuals who participate in the traditional bat harvest. We also collected several tissue samples from the bats collected at the harvest. Sera were screened with a multiple serological assays for antibodies against medically henipaviruses and several members of the family filoviridae. Bat kidney, lung, and spleen tissues were pooled and tested with a pan-filovirus PCR and a pan-paramyxovirus PCR. Results: All bat tissues were PCR-negative for filoviruses, but there were paramyxovirus positive samples. All three species of bats were seropositive for filoviruses and paramyxoviruses, while there were human sera samples that were serologically positive for filoviruses. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that there likely has been exposure of humans to filoviruses.