Opinion | There have been three major coronavirus outbreaks in the past two decades and studying coronaviruses will help plan and prepare for future outbreaks, says Centre for Viral Zoonoses at the University of Pretoria
There have been three major coronavirus outbreaks in the past two decades.
In China, people are exposed to diverse wildlife species in the markets where animals are sold and slaughtered.Research found that different bat species carry diverse coronaviruses, some of which were similar to outbreak viruses. Globally, bat species host many different coronaviruses, which can be found in their faecal material.
As a result of international air travel the world is interconnected, and outbreaks can spread rapidly across the globe. It is important to know which viruses are present in animals . The Biosurveillance and Ecology of Emerging Zoonoses research group in the Centre for Viral Zoonoses in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Health Sciences has been investigating bats as hosts of viruses in Africa since 2009.
However, as the natural habitats of these bat species are disturbed, there will be increased contact between them and humans, and this will result in increasing risk for the emergence of new viruses that have crossed the species barrier.
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