Spillover: the role of bats and relationships as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses and the origin of new coronaviruses

Júnior, Diniz Pereira Leite; Pires, Rodrigo Antônio Araújo; Dantas, Elisangela Santana de Oliveira; Pereira, Ronaldo Sousa; Bonci, Mário Mendes; Ramos, Renata Pereira; Costa, Gisela Lara da; Melhem, Márcia de Souza Carvalho; Felippe, Paulo Anselmo Nunes; Paula, Claudete Rodrigues

doi:10.15406/frcij.2020.08.00329

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…These types of misconception were promoted by religious leaders and covered in several social and mass media [5,9]. Moreover, though it is established that the COVID-19 is a spill over infection and not a human-made (laboratory-generated) virus [36][37][38], another common misconception is that this virus is…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors in Satkhira, Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

et al. 2021

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Introduction Misconception related to coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) have been spread out broadly and the the World Health Organization declared these as a major challenge to fight against the pandemic. This study aimed to assess COVID-19 related misconception among rural people in Bangladesh and associated socio-demographic and media related factors. Methods Multistage sampling method was used to collect data (n = 210) from three unions of Satkhira District, Bangladesh. The dependent variable was the presence of COVID-19 related misconception (Yes, No) which was generated based on respondents’ responses to a set of six questions on various types of misconception. Exposure variables were respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, mass media and social media exposure. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the respondents. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with COVID-19 misconception. Results More than half of the study respondents had one or more COVID-19 related misconception. Over 50% of the total respondents considered this disease as a punishment from God. Besides, many of the respondents reported that they do not think the virus causing COVID-19 is dangerous (59%) and it is a disease (19%). Around 7% reported they believe the virus is the part of a virus war (7.2%). The bivariate analysis found the presence of socio-demographic factors of the respondents, as well as the factors related to social and mass media, were significantly associated with the COVID-19’s misconception. However, once all factors considered together in the multivariate model, misconception were found to be lower among secondary (AOR, 0.33, 95% CI: 0.13–0.84) and tertiary (AOR, 0.29, 95% CI: 0.09–0.92) educated respondents compared to the respondents with primary education. Conclusion This study obtained a very higher percentage of misconception about the COVID-19 among the respondents of Satkhira district in Bangladesh. This could be a potential challenge to fight against this pandemic which is now ongoing. Prioritizing mass and social media to disseminate evidence-based information as well as educate people about this disease are necessary.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors in Satkhira, Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These types of misconception were promoted by religious leaders and covered in several social and mass media [4,8]. Moreover, though it is established that COVID-19 is spill over infection and not a human made (laboratory generated) output [35][36][37], however, another common misconception is that this virus is human created biological weapons for international politics [38]. Similar findings were reported across the world, including America [9,39], Saudi Arabia [31] Nigeria [33,40], Nepal [7], Ghana [41], Uganda [42] and Pakistan [43].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors: Evidence from a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh

Bakebillah

et al. 2021

Preprint

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IntroductionMisconception about COVID-19 has been spread out broadly that the World Health Organization declared it as a major challenge in the fight against the disease. This study aimed to assess common misconceptions about COVID-19 among the rural people of Bangladesh and its associated socio-demographic and media related factors.MethodsData were collected from 210 respondents selected from three unions of Satkhira District, Bangladesh.The dependent variable was misconception about COVID-19 (Yes, No) which was generated based on the respondents’ responses to six questions on common misconceptions of COVID-19. Explanatory variables were respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, mass media and social media use habits. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the respondents. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with misconception about COVID-19.ResultsMisconceptions about COVID-19 were found among more than half of the total respondents. More than 50% of the respondents reported they consider COVID-19 as a punishment from God. Besides, most of the respondents reported that they do not think COVID-19 is dangerous (59%), and COVID-19 is a disease (19%). Around 7% of the total respondents reported they consider this virus as a part of a virus war (7.2%). Bivariate analysis found that socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and factors related to social and mass media were significantly associated with misconception. However, when all the factors included together in the multivariate model, the likelihood of misconception was lower among secondary (AOR, 0.33, 95% CI, 0.13-0.84) and tertiary (AOR, 0.29, 95% CI, 0.09-0.92) educated respondents compared to respondents with primary education.ConclusionThis study obtained a very higher percentage of the rural people of Bangladesh having one or more misconceptions related to COVID-19. This could be a potential challenge in the fight against the pandemic. Effective use of mass and social media to communicate evidence based information on COVID-19 as well as to educate the public about COVID-19 is important.

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“…Habitat loss is concerning at both a local and a global scale, given that the ongoing modification and destruction of natural habitat and the intensification of anthropogenic land use is bringing previously wild animal populations into closer contact with humans than ever before [ 37 ]. Notably, changes in land cover are strongly linked to the increasing emergence of zoonoses worldwide [ 2 ], with bats acknowledged as one of the prevalent host species for a variety of viruses [ 32 , 44 , 51 ]. To prevent zoonotic spillover, a variety of ecological interventions (e.g., reducing contact rates between humans and wildlife) can be applied to break the chain of transmission [ 66 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the extent of land-use change around important bat-inhabited caves

Pretorius¹,

Markotter²,

Keith³

2021

BMC Zool

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Background Modification and destruction of natural habitats are bringing previously unencountered animal populations into contact with humans, with bats considered important zoonotic transmission vectors. Caves and cave-dwelling bats are under-represented in conservation plans. In South Africa, at least two cavernicolous species are of interest as potential zoonotic hosts: the Natal long-fingered bat Miniopterus natalensis and the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus. Little information is available about the anthropogenic pressures these species face around important roost sites. Both bats are numerous and widespread throughout the country; land-use changes and urban expansions are a rising concern for both conservation and increased bat-human contact. Results Our study addressed this shortfall by determining the extent of land-cover change around 47 roosts between 2014 and 2018 using existing land cover datasets. We determined the land-cover composition around important roost sites (including maternity, hibernacula and co-roosts), distances to urban settlements and assessed the current protection levels of roost localities. We detected an overall 4% decrease in natural woody vegetation (trees) within 5 km buffer zones of all roost sites, with a 10% decrease detected at co-roost sites alone. Agricultural land cover increased the most near roost sites, followed by plantations and urban land-cover. Overall, roosts were located 4.15 ± 0.91 km from urban settlements in 2018, the distances decreasing as urban areas expand. According to the South African National Biodiversity Institute Ecosystem Threat Status assessment, 72% of roosts fall outside of well-protected ecosystems. Conclusions The current lack of regulatory protection of cavernicolous bats and their roosts, increasing anthropogenic expansions and proximity to human settlements raises concerns about increased human-bat contact. Furthermore, uncontrolled roost visitation and vandalism are increasing, contributing to bat health risks and population declines, though the extent of roosts affected is yet to be quantified. In an era where pandemics are predicted to become more frequent and severe due to land-use change, our research is an urgent call for the formal protection of bat-inhabited caves to safeguard both bats and humans.

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Spillover: the role of bats and relationships as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses and the origin of new coronaviruses

Cited by 3 publications

References 63 publications

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors in Satkhira, Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors in Satkhira, Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors: Evidence from a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh

Assessing the extent of land-use change around important bat-inhabited caves

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