Viral maintenance and excretion dynamics of coronaviruses within an Egyptian rousette fruit bat maternal colony: considerations for spillover.

ABSTRACT: Novel coronavirus species of public health and veterinary importance have emerged in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, with bats identified as natural hosts for progenitors of many coronaviruses. Targeted wildlife surveillance is needed to identify the factors involved in viral perpetuation within natural host populations, and drivers of interspecies transmission. We monitored a natural colony of Egyptian rousette bats at monthly intervals across two years to identify circulating coronaviruses, and to investigate shedding dynamics and viral maintenance within the colony. Three distinct lineages were detected, with different seasonal temporal excretion dynamics. For two lineages, the highest periods of coronavirus shedding were at the start of the year, when large numbers o

SUBMITTER: Geldenhuys M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10517123 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature