You may have heard that bats are to blame for many disease outbreaks in recent years, including COVID-19 and SA RS. But how exactly does a disease spread from bats to humans? And with so many diseases coming from bats, you would think that bats would be sick all the time. It turns out this isn't the case and it's likely because of the way that bats' immune (免疫)systems work.
Bats have very active immune systems to protect their cells from viruses. When a bat's body notices a virus, a protein (蛋白质)is released (释放)that sends a signal to the bat's cells to keep the virus out. In response, viruses reproduce very quickly to try to get into the cells before this immune reaction triggers (触发).Although the bats don't get sick, these rapidly increasing viruses can jump to animals with slower immune systems and can quickly cause serious infections.
At the same time, bats are great disease carriers. Bats live in large crowded places—a perfect setting for viruses to spread. In addition, the average bat lives for around 30 years, which is a long time that an infected bat can spread the disease around its environment.
The question remains: Why are so many diseases spreading from bats to humans? Put simply, that problem may be on us. As the number of humans on Earth has increased, there are more chances for bats and humans to have contact with each other. People have taken over large areas of bats' natural habitats due to urban development and the cutting down of trees. This leaves the bats with no choice but to live closer to us.
Even though bats can harbor dangerous diseases, we can't blame them for getting us sick. It is only because of bats' strong immune systems that they can carry such deadly illnesses. By studying bats, we may find ways to develop new treatments. However, the only way to do that is to protect the natural habitats of these extraordinary creatures.