Niu Yannan, McKee Clifton D
Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2025 Apr;25(4):229-239. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2024.0091. Epub 2025 Jan 21.
Bats act as reservoirs for a variety of zoonotic viruses, sometimes leading to spillover into humans and potential risks of global transmission. Viral shedding from bats is an essential prerequisite to bat-to-human viral transmission and understanding the timing and intensity of viral shedding from bats is critical to mitigate spillover risks. However, there are limited investigations on bats' seasonal viral shedding patterns and their related risk factors. We conducted a comprehensive review of longitudinal studies on bat viruses with spillover potential to synthesize patterns of seasonal viral shedding and explore associated risk factors. We extracted data from 60 reviewed articles and obtained 1085 longitudinal sampling events. We analyzed viral shedding events using entropy values to quantitatively assess whether they occur in a consistent, pulsed pattern in a given season. We found that clear seasonal shedding patterns were common in bats. Eight out of seventeen species-level analyses presented clear seasonal patterns. Viral shedding pulses often coincide with bats' life cycles, especially in weaning and parturition seasons. Juvenile bats with waning maternal antibodies, pregnant bats undergoing immunity changes, and hibernation periods with decreased immune responses could be potential risk factors influencing seasonal shedding patterns. Based on our findings, we recommend future longitudinal studies on bat viruses that combine direct viral testing and serological testing, prioritize longitudinal research following young bats throughout their developmental stages, and broaden the geographical range of longitudinal studies on bat viruses based on current surveillance reports. Our review identified critical periods with heightened viral shedding for some viruses in bat species, which would help promote efforts to minimize spillovers and prevent outbreaks.
蝙蝠是多种人畜共患病毒的宿主，有时会导致病毒传播给人类，并存在全球传播的潜在风险。蝙蝠排出病毒是病毒从蝙蝠传播给人类的必要前提，了解蝙蝠排出病毒的时间和强度对于降低传播风险至关重要。然而，关于蝙蝠季节性病毒排出模式及其相关风险因素的研究有限。我们对具有传播潜力的蝙蝠病毒纵向研究进行了全面综述，以总结季节性病毒排出模式并探索相关风险因素。我们从60篇综述文章中提取数据，获得了1085个纵向采样事件。我们使用熵值分析病毒排出事件，以定量评估它们在给定季节是否以一致的脉冲模式发生。我们发现，明显的季节性排出模式在蝙蝠中很常见。在17个物种水平的分析中，有8个呈现出明显的季节性模式。病毒排出脉冲通常与蝙蝠的生命周期一致，尤其是在断奶和分娩季节。母源抗体减弱的幼年蝙蝠、免疫状态发生变化的怀孕蝙蝠以及免疫反应降低的冬眠期可能是影响季节性排出模式的潜在风险因素。基于我们的研究结果，我们建议未来对蝙蝠病毒进行纵向研究，将直接病毒检测和血清学检测相结合，优先对幼蝠整个发育阶段进行纵向研究，并根据当前监测报告扩大蝙蝠病毒纵向研究的地理范围。我们的综述确定了某些蝙蝠物种中病毒排出增加的关键时期，这将有助于推动努力尽量减少病毒传播并预防疫情爆发。
