Cibulski, Samuel Paulo

Lima, Francisco Esmaile de Sales

Roehe, Paulo Michel

English

Lume 5.8

VIEWPOINTSCoronaviruses in Brazilian bats: A matter ofconcern?Samuel CibulskiID1*, Francisco Esmaile Sales de LimaID2, Paulo Michel RoeheID31 Centro de Biotecnologia–CBiotec, Laboratório de Biotecnologia Celular e Molecular, Universidade Federalda Paraı́ba–UFPB, João Pessoa, Paraı́ba, Brazil, 2 Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade deFortaleza–UNIFOR, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, 3 Departamento de Microbiologia Imunologia e Parasitologia,Laboratório de Virologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul–UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre,Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil* spcibulski@gmail.comAccording to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Brazil is the most biolog-ically diverse country in the world. It is estimated that Brazil hosts between 15% and 20% ofthe Earth’s biological diversity, with the greatest number of endemic species on a global scale.Taking into account its wide natural diversity, Brazil suffers from serious environmental trou-bles. These problems, such as deforestation—leading to fragmentation and loss of habitats andoverexploitation of plants, animals, and monoculture by agribusiness—are the main threats toBrazilian biodiversity [1]. Despite the plenteousness of legislation aiming protection and pres-ervation of the natural environment, the continuing destruction of biomes is still an ongoingmatter of concern [2].The invasion of natural ecosystems facilitates the contact between people, domestic ani-mals, and wildlife populations. Indigenous, isolated populations are at increasing risk ofacquiring infectious agents to which they have not been previously exposed. The currentlyongoing pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) plus the past outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle EastRespiratory Syndrome (MERS) have once more highlighted (flipped the coin to reveal) howdevastating and life threatening viral infections could be.Multiple lines of evidence support an evolutionary origin for all human coronaviruses(CoV) from wild hosts, especially bats, which, due to its extraordinary adaptability to differentniches, host a variety of microorganisms. Given the proper occasion, genetic diversity will playits part in evolution and eventually give rise to infectious agents, which could jump to a differ-ent animal species with unpredictable consequences. Bats are known to be reservoirs of a num-ber of viruses with the potential to cause serious human diseases, including rabies, Ebola,Nipah, and the currently pandemic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2.There is a consensus that the question is not “if” novel zoonotic viruses will rise but “when.”Currently, 2 to 3 novel RNA viruses are discovered every year; RNA viruses are the most com-mon class of pathogens behind new human diseases [3]. Central and South America are con-sidered world hotspots for the emergence of new mammalian viral zoonoses [4]. Brazil is acountry of continental dimensions and home to an immense biodiversity and with more than200 million inhabitants; with ecosystems constantly threatened by degradation, plus humanand wildlife in close contact in several locations, these facilitate jumps of infectious agentsbetween species.Brazil is the country with the greatest diversity of mammals, with approximately 700 spe-cies, of which about 25% are bats [5]. At least 178 species of bats have been identified inPLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASESPLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008820 October 26, 2020 1 / 3a1111111111a1111111111a1111111111a1111111111a1111111111OPEN ACCESSCitation: Cibulski S, de Lima FES, Roehe PM(2020) Coronaviruses in Brazilian bats: A matter ofconcern? PLoS Negl Trop Dis 14(10): e0008820.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008820Editor: José Reck, Jr., Instituto de PesquisasVeterinarias Desiderio Finamor, BRAZILPublished: October 26, 2020Copyright: © 2020 Cibulski et al. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution License, whichpermits unrestricted use, distribution, andreproduction in any medium, provided the originalauthor and source are credited.Funding: The authors received no specific fundingfor this work.Competing interests: The authors have declaredthat no competing interests exist.different biomes, some of which definitely associated with the transmission of important zoo-noses, such as rabies and histoplasmosis. Despite the large number of bat species, studies thatexplore the microbiomes of such species are scarce. Nevertheless, a few have revealed potentialrisks (e.g., pathogen spillover and/or transmission), such as CoV and representatives of otherviral families in both synanthropic and sylvatic bats [6–9]. Members of the family Coronaviri-dae infect mammals, birds, and fish and are allocated into 4 genera: Alphacoronavirus, Betacor-onavirus, Gammacoronavirus, and Deltacoronavirus (colloquially, alpha-, beta-, gamma-, anddeltacoronaviruses). Due to the great diversity of alphacoronaviruses and betacoronavirusesreported in bats, it is believed that such species are reservoirs and progenitors of many mem-bers of these genera, whereas delta- and gammacoronaviruses seem to have originated fromCoV of birds. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has thrusted bat betacoronaviruses into thespotlight again. Most CoV recovered from Brazilian bats are alphacoronaviruses [6,7,10].However, in 2016, 2 distinct betacoronaviruses that clustered within MERS-CoV were detectedin bats with potential contact with humans from the Atlantic Forest biome [11]. Other betacor-onaviruses were reported in Central and South America [8,9], highlighting the broad circula-tion of these viruses in neotropical bats. Furthermore, the diversified ecology, a high numberof coexisting bat species and their local abundance in relation to other mammalian speciescould make neotropical bats major spreaders of viruses, as human population density increasesin the ever growing occupation of neotropical ecosystems [9].Should CoV in Brazilian bats be a matter of concern? A prudent answer to this questionwould certainly be positive. However, unfortunately, it is not possible to calculate the risk and/or the point in time where viral host switching events might occur; moreover, even more diffi-cult would be to predict the emergence of an outbreak or epidemics. Nonetheless, it is possibleto state categorically that this will happen, as we have seen with SARS-CoV-2 and many otheremergent viruses that spilled over from wildlife with impact on human health in the last 20years. Furthermore, the scarce but valuable data on viral detection in neotropical bats reinforcethe need for expanded and continuing efforts to widen our knowledge on the viral communi-ties of wild and synanthropic mammals. This will certainly contribute to contingency plans inthe advent of potential viral threats to humans and/or other species.How can we be prepared? Is there anything we can do to minimize the burden of such inev-itable course? The answer, if it exists, is not simplistic. Improvements on the national healthsystem (Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS))—to ensure sufficient and adequate access to health-care, allied to a strong focus on environmental education since the very early days of schoolattendance—would certainly have a positive effect on the formation of individuals concernedwith environmental problems. Moreover, investments on research on the microbiome of wildand synanthropic animals may increase our degree of preparedness and contribute to contin-gency plans to reduce the potential risk of zoonotic diseases. However, the preventive measurethat might have the most significant impact the emergence of new, potentially zoonotic virusesis the implementation of conservation policies to control the disturbance of biomes. Ensuringenvironmental interventions along with sustainable exploration of natural resources wouldminimize exposures to risk factors from emerging wildlife diseases, yet preserving wildlife inits natural “status quo,” thus contributing indirectly to accomplish the interrelated goals ofhealth, environmental sustainability, and development.Such achievement would require more profound interventions, where the One Health con-cept spanning human, animal, and environmental health would become part of a unifiedeffort, stimulating inter- and multidisciplinary professional, disciplinary, and institutionalbonds to work in a more integrated fashion [12]. A complex concern such as the emergence ofinfectious diseases, especially in low-income countries, needs to be addressed using this keyconcept, in which particular characteristics of human, environmental, and animal health arePLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES Coronaviruses in Brazilian bats: A matter of concern?PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008820 October 26, 2020 2 / 3considered in a unified way to more effectively detect, understand, prevent and, if necessary,to intervene aiming to solve related public health issues [2,13–16].References1. Haddad NM, Brudvig LA, Clobert J, Davies KF, Gonzalez A, Holt RD et al. Habitat fragmentation and itslasting impact on Earth’s ecosystems. Sci Adv. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500052 PMID:266011542. Ellwanger JH, Kulmann-Leal B, Kaminski VL, Valverde-Villegas JM, DA VEIGA ABG, Spilki FR et al.Beyond diversity loss and climate change: Impacts of Amazon deforestation on infectious diseases andpublic health. An Acad Bras Cienc. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202020191375 PMID:323210303. Rosenberg R. Detecting the emergence of novel, zoonotic viruses pathogenic to humans. Cell Mol LifeSci. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-014-1785-y PMID: 254166794. Olival KJ, Hosseini PR, Zambrana-Torrelio C, Ross N, Bogich TL, Daszak P. Host and viral traits predictzoonotic spillover from mammals. Nature. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22975 PMID: 286365905. Nogueira MR, de Lima IP, Moratelli R, Tavares V, da C, Gregorin R et al. Checklist of Brazilian bats,with comments on original records. Check List. 2014. https://doi.org/10.15560/10.4.8086. Lima FEDS, Campos FS, Kunert Filho HC, Batista HBDCR, Carnielli Júnior P, Cibulski SP et al. Detec-tion of Alphacoronavirus in velvety free-tailed bats (Molossus molossus) and Brazilian free-tailed bats(Tadarida brasiliensis) from urban area of Southern Brazil. Virus Genes. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-013-0899-x PMID: 235041467. Asano KM, Hora AS, Scheffer KC, Fahl WO, Iamamoto K, Mori E et al. Alphacoronavirus in urbanMolossidae and Phyllostomidae bats. Brazil Virol J. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-016-0569-4PMID: 273421958. Góes LGB, Ruvalcaba SG, Campos AA, Queiroz LH, de Carvalho C, Jerez JA et al. Novel bat coronavi-ruses. Brazil and Mexico Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2013. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1910.130525PMID: 240501449. Corman VM, Rasche A, Diallo TD, Cottontail VM, Stöcker A, de CD SBF et al. Highly diversified corona-viruses in neotropical bats. J Gen Virol. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.054841–010. Simas PVM, DE Souza Barnabé AC, Durães-Carvalho R, De Lima Neto DF, Caserta LC, Artacho Let al. Bat coronavirus in Brazil related to appalachian ridge and porcine epidemic diarrhea viruses.Emerg Infect Dis. 2015. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2104.141783 PMID: 2581191111. Góes LGB, Campos AC de A, Carvalho C de, Ambar G, Queiroz LH, Cruz-Neto AP, et al. Genetic diver-sity of bats coronaviruses in the Atlantic Forest hotspot biome, Brazil. Infect Genet Evol. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2016.07.034 PMID: 2747378012. Lee K, Brumme ZL. Operationalizing the One Health approach: The global governance challenges.Health Policy Plan. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czs127 PMID: 2322112313. Halliday JEB, Allan KJ, Ekwem D, Cleaveland S, Kazwala RR, Crump JA. One health: Endemic zoono-ses in the tropics: A public health problem hiding in plain sight. Vet Rec. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.h798 PMID: 2572233414. Destoumieux-Garzón D, Mavingui P, Boetsch G, Boissier J, Darriet F, Duboz P et al. The one healthconcept: 10 years old and a long road ahead. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2018. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2018.00014 PMID: 2948430115. Tilocca B, Soggiu A, Musella V, Britti D, Sanguinetti M, Urbani A et al. Molecular basis of COVID-19relationships in different species: a one health perspective. Microbes Infect. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micinf.2020.03.002 PMID: 3219425316. Ellwanger JH, Kaminski V de L, Chies JAB. How to detect new viral outbreaks or epidemics? We needto survey the circulation of viruses in humans and other animals using fast, sensible, cheap, and broad-spectrum methodologies. Braz J Infect Dis. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjid.2016.12.001 PMID:28012932PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES Coronaviruses in Brazilian bats: A matter of concern?PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008820 October 26, 2020 3 / 3

Coronaviruses in brazilian bats : a matter of concern?

https://lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/10183/217148/1/001120481.pdf

Coronaviruses in brazilian bats : a matter of concern?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Lume 5.8