Ghana’s batmen hunting for pandemic clues

Bats are essential to the world’s ecosystems and are known to carry several viruses. As encroachments on human habitats increase and the risk of new pandemics increases, scientists are studying bats for clues to preventing new epidemics.

Dusk is witch time at the Accra Zoo. It’s the time when rearing colonies of straw-colored fruit bats begin to move, and it’s the perfect time to test for a variety of pathogens.

A team of scientists from the University of Ghana School of Veterinary Medicine is here to analyze bat droppings, or guano.

They are part of an international effort to predict the next pandemic and wear full personal protective equipment even in the extreme heat of Ghana’s rainy season. They enter the enclosure and spread a white tarp on the ground.

Chief scientist Dr. Richard Souillet has been studying bats for many years. He explains that PPE is necessary, saying, “It’s necessary not only to protect you from any infections you might get in your cage, but also to prevent the bats from getting anything from us. , it is a protection in both senses.”

As the only flying mammals, there are many mysteries about these animals and their amazing immune systems. Somehow bats can carry a lot of viruses, but bats themselves don’t seem to get sick.

Ghana has joined countries such as Bangladesh and Australia as part of a global project called Bat One Healthinvestigates how pathogens are transmitted from one species to another and what can be done to prevent so-called spillover events.

Given the novel coronavirus pandemic, the bat-borne viruses that are the focus of this study include coronaviruses.

WARNING: This article contains pictures of dead animals and may be offensive to some people.

Dr Suiré explained that they are testing paramyxoviruses and coronaviruses in bats. In humans, these viruses are well known diseases such as mumps, measles, and respiratory tract infections.

He describes bats as “carriers” because they don’t get sick, but they carry infections.

“So we want to monitor and see what’s going on.”

He said the new coronavirus was not detected when surveying wild bat populations.

His team is now also testing for superbugs in bat droppings. The researchers fed the bats pawpaw nuts, and after the bats defecated on a tarp, the bright orange feces were swabbed and stored in test tubes.

The University of Ghana is at the forefront of this new field of research and this project is the first of its kind. However, there are still many gaps in scientific understanding.

Ultimately, they’re looking to see if there are antibiotic-resistant bacteria in bat faeces.

“If there is resistance, we will look at which antibiotics it has acquired resistance to,” Suu-ire said. “In the future, we plan to try to isolate resistance genes from these bacteria.” ‘ said.

This is not the only bat research being conducted at the University of Ghana.

In the undergrowth of the university’s botanical garden, Dr. Kofi Amponsor Mensah has set up a tall green net, as if ready for an evening badminton match.

These nets can be used to temporarily trap bats, which are then examined, measured, and eventually released back into the wild. As an ecologist, he is concerned about the increasing encroachment of humans into bat habitats.

He noted that deforestation rates are high in Ghana and that much mining is destroying the vegetation that is the bat’s natural habitat.

“I think we’re just using bats as scapegoats for areas where humans have failed, because historically we haven’t had that many diseases,” he says.

“We are the ones invading the bats.” [habitat], you know, messing around with ecosystems. This obviously leads to increased exposure, making some of these diseases more likely to occur. ”

Any discussion of how humans interact with bats inevitably leads to the topic of bushmeat.

All kinds of animals are for sale at the bushmeat market on an abandoned railway line in central Accra. These markets are dangerous places where wild animals such as bats come into contact with humans. This creates a risk that scientists want to get ahead of.

Certainly not a place for the faint of heart. There were large, rodent-like animals called mowers with long tails, as well as dead antelopes with their throats cut, indicating a variety of ways of hunting in the wild.

The heat of the market is overwhelming as many of the women who work here cook over an open fire. In the corner of one stall you can see what looks like a pot lid full of shriveled, straw-colored flying foxes. According to Dr. Unponser Mensah, he was burned with fire to remove the hair.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, some experts have called for a ban on such markets as they could lead to the spread of the virus. Dr. Unponser Mensah says he doesn’t intend to eat bats himself, but feels conflicted about the total ban.

The bushmeat trade has been around for thousands of years, he said, and is so ingrained in people’s culture and history that many people prefer to eat bushmeat over beef or chicken.

“This industry is predominantly female-dominated and for many women it is the only industry they know of because it was passed down from their grandparents to their mothers and they are now in it themselves. because,” he says.

“So any attempt to ban bushmeat without considering the complexities of the trade would have really serious repercussions.”

At the Noguchi Institute for Medical Research’s Aseptic Advanced Security Laboratory on the campus of the University of Ghana, bat feces from the Accra Zoo will be analyzed by Associate Professor of Virology Kofi Bonney.

As he typed secret codes into his electronic keypad, he explained that these labs were under pressure to prevent the escape of pathogens.

Since the pandemic, Professor Bonnie and his team are feeling busier than ever with the global effort to stay ahead of future virus outbreaks.

Professor Bonney explains the growing relevance of the Bat OneHealth project: “Animal and human divisions need to work together to improve the environment. We need to build a system that can detect some of these viruses early and control their infection.” Spread.

“Otherwise, once the virus is in the human body, it will continue to circulate, making it more likely to mutate. As it mutates, it may develop the ability to become more severely ill.” So the best thing for us is: We need to develop systems that allow early detection.”

Experts fear that climate change will increase the frequency of zoonotic disease transmission. Humans and animals will be forced to come into closer contact than ever before as they compete for resources such as water and shade.

Bats are already the focus of billions of dollars worth of research, in part because of their unusual immune systems, but also because bats can fly great distances. A better understanding of them, as they are trying in Ghana, is vital to the health of the planet.