Sars-related viruses infect 66,000 in S-E Asia a year

SHANGHAI • About 66,000 people in South-east Asia are infected each year with Sars-related coronaviruses, and nearly 500 million people live near habitats where bat hosts of these viruses are found, according to a study released yesterday.

The research, published by Nature Communications, said viral transmission from bats to humans may have been "substantially underestimated", adding that its mapping of bat species in the region could aid efforts to determine the origins of Covid-19.

The researchers focused on 26 bat species known to host Sars-like coronaviruses in an area of 5.1 million sq km, stretching from China to South-east and South Asia.

They then incorporated data on antibody levels among people who reported bat contact.

Southern China, north-eastern Myanmar, Laos and northern Vietnam were identified as the regions with the highest diversity of bat species that host Sars-like coronaviruses (Sarsr-CoVs).

"Our estimate that a median of 66,000 people are infected with Sarsr-CoVs each year in South-east Asia suggests that bat-to-human Sarsr-CoV spillover is common in the region, and is undetected by surveillance programmes and clinical studies in the majority of cases," they said.

"This data on the geography and scale of spillover can be used to target surveillance and prevention programmes for potential future bat-CoV emergence," the paper said.

Covid-19 is caused by the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus strain.

A study published by the journal Science at the end of last month said live wildlife trade was still the best explanation for the origins of the pandemic, with two separate spillovers likely at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, where many of the earliest cases were clustered.

REUTERS