India: Coronaviruses Found in Two Bat Species in Kerala
Researchers have detected coronaviruses in two species of bats from four states in India, an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study published on Monday shows. Bats are known reservoirs for a broad range of coronaviruses, and are often transmitted to humans through an intermediate host.
Throat samples of two bats species from seven states were screened for the virus, of which samples from Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu were found positive. Samples from Karnataka, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Odisha, Punjab, and Telangana were negative.
Meanwhile, researchers led by the Global Health Program, Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute published a study in last week which looks at the detection of novel coronaviruses found in bats in Myanmar.
