We found coronaviruses in UK bats – so far the danger’s minimal but we need to know more about viruses that can spread to humans

By Francois Balloux, Cedric Tan, Lucy van Dorp, UCL

Most emerging infectious diseases are caused by zoonotic pathogens – viruses and bacteria which circulate in wild and domestic animals but are also capable of infecting humans. Examples of diseases caused by zoonotic pathogens include Ebola, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and bird flu.

Certain bat species act as a reservoir for a range of viruses that can jump to humans – for example, the closest relatives of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID) circulate in bats of the Rhinolophus genus. However, we don’t have a good understanding of the diversity of viruses circulating in bat populations in most parts of the world. We also don’t have a good idea of the number of bat viruses that could jump into humans in the future.

This motivated new research, in which we searched for RNA viruses circulating in UK bats. RNA viruses, of which SARS-CoV-2 is one, are generally considered to be the most worrying zoonotic threats.

We also evaluated the zoonotic potential of some of the viruses we discovered. Reassuringly, we didn’t identify any viruses currently capable of infecting humans – but one virus may need only a few mutations to do so. Continually monitoring bats and other wildlife is therefore important to protect us against future zoonotic threats.

Studying UK bats

Over the course of two years, we collected faecal samples from 16 bat species that breed in the UK. These were mostly from injured or grounded bats rehabilitated by the Bat Conservation Trust. This strategy didn’t cause hurt or disturbance to any bat we sampled and didn’t increase contact rates between bats and humans.

We selected 48 faecal samples for RNA sequencing. The resulting data allowed us to identify a wide range of viruses, the majority of which infect insects found in the bats’ faeces. But we also detected a variety of viruses that infect mammals, including several coronaviruses.

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