Identification of Coronavirus in Bats and Rodents From Northern and Central Argentina

Abstract

Due to the present pandemic situation and the many animal species epidemiologically involved, a renewed interest has surged to investigate the coronavirus population circulating in wildlife, specially bats and rodents as potential reservoirs of new human pathogens. In Argentina, information about the viruses present in these mammals is very reduced. To investigate the presence of coronaviruses in this country, we obtained 457 samples from hematophagous, insectivorous, and frugivorous bats and rodents from two regions of Argentina. We report here the detection of alphacoronaviruses sequences in the three groups of bats as well as in rodents. Phylogenetic analysis showed the closest relationships to alphacoronaviruses from Brazil.