The planet Earth has come to a stand-still and everyone in any part of
the world is under partial or complete lockdown. Such conditions have
never prevailed in the history of human civilisation. The deadly Corona
virus disease is to blame for. The deadly Coronavirus Disease 2019
(COVID-19) outbreak caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported for the very first time in
December 2019, in Wuhan province of China (Khan et al., 2020). The
COVID-19 after that rapidly spread from its epicentre globally and now
is decisively recognised as a pandemic by the World Health Organization
(World Health Organization, 2020). It has become a major threat to world
health, fauna, economy and environment. The higher transmissibility of
the deadly SARS-CoV-2, the lack of proper designated, designed treatment
and vaccines, and the unstoppable transmission of infection have now
caused a major global health emergency, scared then public, and
psychological stress among the people almost in every country of the
world. (Cohen and Kupferschmidt, 2020). Similar to SARS-CoV-2, other
viruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
(SARS-CoV), The dangerous Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
(MERS-CoV), The Marburg virus, and the dangerous Ebola virus, have also
caused major outbreaks in recent history. A number of deaths have been
caused by such ourbreaks and its eradication, vaccination and control
will cost billions of dollars, worldwide (Allocati et al., 2016; Fan et
al., 2019).
Primary source of Virus: Bats are blamed for this deadly
disease transmission. Such viruses are reported to have been naturally
found in bats, especially coronaviruses (CoVs) which make up
approximately, 31% of their virome studies by (Allocati et al., 2016;
Afelt et al., 2018). Humans are infected by these varises either by
direct consumption or contact or through even by the intermediate hosts
(Chan et al., 2013; Allocati et al., 2016). Their higher diversity in
species (over 1400), They have a very high resistance to viral
infections, longer lifespan (over 30 years) and also the fact that they
migrate makes them a major reservoir for pathogens and therefore their
chances to transmit pathogens to other species is very high in large
areas (Allocati et al., 2016; Frick et al., 2019; Banerjee et al.,
2020). Nearly 5717 bat-associated animal viruses were detected by the
year 2016, in a total of 207 bat species, in 77 different countries
(Allocati et al., 2016). The nocturnal and solitary species
characteristics of bats make they very difficult to study (Frick et al.,
2019). It is highly likely that a number of dangerous and deadly viruses
may be present in different bat species which have not been found and
studies so far. There is a need for regular and efficient monitoring,
studying and surveillance in localities where in human beings and bats
share a common habitat.
Destruction of their habitat: There is no denying the fact
that bats are very essential for our ecosystem as they maintain the
ecological balance in the environment but the the rapid clearing of
forests for agriculture, urbanization and for making space for the ever
expanding human population have greatly damaged and transformed the
natural ecological niche of bats to a great extent (Walsh et al., 2017).
There has been an ever increasing growth of our communities, localities,
states and country population, year by year our numbers are increasing
which ultimately leads to deforestation and land use for infrastructure,
housing roads and agriculture. The countries lying in Southeast Asia
(SEA) region are undergoing a population explosion and have lost nearly
30% of forest cover only in the previous 40 years. The growth in human
population in SEA region is expected to grow to around 250 million
coming the year 2030 in comparison to only 130 million from the years
2001 and 2011 in a research by (Afelt et al., 2018).
Bat population in India: One of the most
ecologically diverse countries in the world, India is renowned for its
majestic wildlife, and studies of its natural history abound, but the
bats of India have hardly ever been studied and mentioned, and very
little is known about them. Though studied very less but bats are an
important part of our biodiversity. With at least 109 species (Mistry,
Shahroukh 1995) India has an incredibly vast diversity of bat species.
This includes one of the largest bat species in size in the world, the
Indian flying fox (Pteropus giganteus ); one of the most colourful
bats in the world, the orange and black colour painted bat
(Kerivoula picta ); and one of the rarest species, Salim Alis
fruit bat (Latidens salimalii). The habits of India’s bats are as
diverse as the habitats they live and thrive in. From higher altitudes
of the Himalayas, to the dry deserts of the Northwest, to the moist
tropical forests of the East and South, there are bats that feed on
fruit, nectar, insects, frogs, and even other bats also. In India the
majority of bats population are in North Eastern states of the country.
The species richness is also confined to the north eastern
region.