66 new viruses found in bats

[taniaaust1]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8456967

Thou this news article talks about 66 new species of paramyxoviruses, the viral group that causes measles and mumps and it mentions at the end about AIDS virus maybe coming from monkeys. It mades me really think more about how many things are carrying viruses (I have handled a bat before too, it was cute).

Maybe one day what our illness is, will get discovered throu it being discovered in another animal? (maybe there is better funding going into looking into viruses in animals then us).

 

[Merry]

(I have handled a bat before too, it was cute).

I laughed at this -- then thought, "Oh dear." Do you not have rabies in Australia?

But an interesting article. Thanks, tania.

A few years ago I lived in a house with bats. Took me months to figure out that they were crawling down from the attic behind kitchen cabinets. One "chased" me, and I hit the floor. Strange, but at the moment I can't remember for sure how I got rid of it. Caught it on the drapes in a box? Bat bugs (a close cousin of the bed bug) found me at night. The sheets would be streaked with blood in the morning, and then I found the bugs. Did bats fly around in the apartment as I slept? Eventually one morning I found a dead bat in sink water (eee! -- poor thing) and thought to shine a flashlight up under the cabinets. With a call to the landlord I got confirmation that around the cabinets was open space into the attic.

Yes, HIV-1 from chimps. The story of the parasite (toxoplasma gondii) that humans get from cats is an interesting one, too.

 

[August59]

I don't know the exact turn of events, but a friend of mine (this happened about 7 or 8 years ago), but he was doing an house inspection and was in the crawl space. It was an older house with very few vents and the 2 foot minimum clearance wasn't even thought of back then. I beleieve he had found a moisture problem and was going to attempt to knock a small hole through the foundation for some drainage. The other element was the chimney had long quit being used and had started disentegrating. Well bat droppings were overflowing into this standing water or it could have just been very close to where he was working.

Later that night he complained to his wife about being short of breath. She took him to the emergency room locally and they couldn't determine what the problem was, but took samples from blood, lungs or somewhere and sent them off for analysis. Meanwhile they were continuing with antibiotics. They got results back and it had something to do with the bat droppings had caused a fungus in his lungs, but it was too late. He went into coma that day and died the next. They were still puzzled since he had not been in an attic and you usually don't associate bats with crawl spaces, but they went back to where he last wotked and found it.

The homeowners moved out before the even sold the house, but they never experienced any problems.

 

[taniaaust1]

I laughed at this -- then thought, "Oh dear." Do you not have rabies in Australia?

Hi Merry

No there is no rabies at all in Australia thou bats can carry other deadly things (eg in certain parts of Aust. the rare Hendra virus).

But truely.. some of them look like wee little monkeys with fuzzy ears. The one I handled was a little fruit bat which we found inside a friends house climbing up her curtins.

One "chased" me, and I hit the floor.

LMAO.

 

[taniaaust1]

I don't know the exact turn of events, but a friend of mine (this happened about 7 or 8 years ago), but he was doing an house inspection and was in the crawl space. It was an older house with very few vents and the 2 foot minimum clearance wasn't even thought of back then. I beleieve he had found a moisture problem and was going to attempt to knock a small hole through the foundation for some drainage. The other element was the chimney had long quit being used and had started disentegrating. Well bat droppings were overflowing into this standing water or it could have just been very close to where he was working.

Later that night he complained to his wife about being short of breath. She took him to the emergency room locally and they couldn't determine what the problem was, but took samples from blood, lungs or somewhere and sent them off for analysis. Meanwhile they were continuing with antibiotics. They got results back and it had something to do with the bat droppings had caused a fungus in his lungs, but it was too late. He went into coma that day and died the next. They were still puzzled since he had not been in an attic and you usually don't associate bats with crawl spaces, but they went back to where he last wotked and found it.

The homeowners moved out before the even sold the house, but they never experienced any problems.

Sorry to hear about the death of your friend.

 

[Merry]

August59, I'm sorry, too, about your friend.

Spelunkers, I've read, have become infected with rabies simply from being in the same cave with rabid bats. "Through aerosols" is how an online article describes transmission. Another online expert doubts that is a possible means of transmission and speculates that those few spelunkers who have become ill must have been bitten. In any case, humans contracting rabies in caves or otherwise is rare. But I did have the bat I found drowned in my kitchen tested for rabies.

No rabies in Australia -- good! I agree, tania, that bats have cute faces. I was dismayed when my landlord, after he'd come down from checking the attic, said he'd killed a bat. Later I called the Department of Natural Resources to get confirmation that killing bats is illegal and let my landlord know. I told him all he needed to do was seal the space around the cabinets so the bats (and their bugs) could no longer get into the apartment, and he did this.

 

[Googsta]

How sad August, sorry for your loss.

Regarding Hendra virus, it has the potential to affect other areas of Australia especially in times of flood or drought. It is beleived that stored stock feed is affected by over-hanging bats. This theory has been used to explain outbreaks in bat-free areas.
In times of need large quantities of fodder are trucked across state lines with the potential to infect stock & humans.

 

[Merry]

Interesting, Googsta. Now to read up on Hendra virus.

 

[August59]

Thanks, I appreciate it! It was just such tragic coincidence that made it hit home in a different way. It was like his his 2 boys all of a sudden had 10 pretend uncles and aunts. His wife was really lost for a while. Not that it is any easier, but a car wreck or motorcycle accident are instantaneous for the most part. Chronic diseases have the time factor involved usually.