Hall J S, Hofmeister E, Ip H S, Nashold S W, Leon A E, Malavé C M, Falendysz E A, Rocke T E, Carossino M, Balasuriya U, Knowles S
U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin.
Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
bioRxiv. 2022 Jul 19:2022.07.18.500430. doi: 10.1101/2022.07.18.500430.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus originated in wild bats from Asia, and as the resulting pandemic continues into its third year, concerns have been raised that the virus will expand its host range and infect North American wildlife species, including bats. Mexican free-tailed bats ( : TABR) live in large colonies in the southern United States, often in urban areas, and as such, could be exposed to the virus from infected humans. We experimentally challenged wild TABR with SARS-CoV-2 to determine the susceptibility, reservoir potential, and population impacts of infection in this species. Of nine bats oronasally inoculated with SARS-CoV-2, five became infected and orally excreted moderate amounts of virus for up to 18 days post inoculation. These five subjects all seroconverted and cleared the virus before the end of the study with no obvious clinical signs of disease. We additionally found no evidence of viral transmission to uninoculated subjects. These results indicate that while TABR are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, infection of wild populations of TABR would not likely cause mortality. However, the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from TABR to or from humans, or to other animal species, is a distinct possibility requiring further investigation to better define.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）起源于亚洲的野生蝙蝠，随着这场大流行进入第三年，人们越来越担心该病毒会扩大其宿主范围并感染包括蝙蝠在内的北美野生动物物种。墨西哥无尾蝙蝠（学名：Tadarida brasiliensis）在美国南部大量群居，通常在城市地区，因此可能会接触到来自受感染人类的病毒。我们用SARS-CoV-2对野生墨西哥无尾蝙蝠进行了实验性挑战，以确定该物种对感染的易感性、储存宿主潜力和种群影响。在9只经口接种SARS-CoV-2的蝙蝠中，有5只被感染，并在接种后长达18天的时间里经口排出适量病毒。这5只受试蝙蝠均发生血清转化，并在研究结束前清除了病毒，没有明显的疾病临床症状。我们还没有发现病毒传播给未接种蝙蝠的证据。这些结果表明，虽然墨西哥无尾蝙蝠对SARS-CoV-2感染易感，但野生墨西哥无尾蝙蝠种群感染不太可能导致死亡。然而，SARS-CoV-2在墨西哥无尾蝙蝠与人类之间或与其他动物物种之间传播是一种明显的可能性，需要进一步调查以更好地界定。
