In a first, Coronaviruses found in 2 species of Indian bats

New Delhi, Apr 14: In a first, scientists have detected coronaviruses in two species of bats from four states in India, an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study has revealed.

The researchers have tested throat samples of two bats species from seven states, 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.

The ICMR study, carried out jointly with a team of scientists from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.

The outbreak of COVID-19 disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) virus has been linked to bats and pangolins, but there is no conclusive evidence yet to prove that the virus jumped from bats to humans via an intermediary species.

Bats are believed to be reservoirs for a broad range of coronaviruses and are often transmitted to humans through an intermediate host.

Earlier, the researchers carried out a genome sequence of the virus associated with the respiratory disease outbreak in China, isolated from a patient working in the seafood market linked to the initial cases.

The study found that the virus was closely related to a group of SARS-like coronaviruses previously identified in bats in China.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the central Hubei province of China in December, has killed more than one lakh people globally.