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Updated: Jun 27, 2025
Tissue Collection of Bats for -Omics Analyses and Primary Cell Culture
Published on: October 23, 2019
Hibernating vesper bats are a weak source for biomonitoring of coronaviruses
Aleksander Goll1, Lara Dutra2, Joanna Nowicka1
1Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdansk, Powstania Styczniowego 9B, 81-519 Gdynia, Poland.
Background:
Our study explores the role of bats as reservoirs of coronaviruses.
Methods:
We conducted virological screening of bats hibernating in military bunkers at the Natura 2000 site "Nietoperek" in Western Poland collecting oral and anal swab samples from 138 bats across six species to apply a combination of pan-coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 specific PCR assays.
Results:
Only one anal swab tested positive for coronavirus. No SARS-CoV-2 was detected in any of the samples. The low prevalence of coronavirus in the studied colony contrasts with higher rates found in other regions and may be influenced by hibernation.
Conclusions:
Hibernating bats may show a low prevalence of coronavirus, potentially due to the hibernation process itself. This finding indicates that hibernating bats may not be the most optimal subjects for screening zoonotic pathogens. However, biomonitoring of bats for emerging and reemerging diseases is recommended for comprehensive epidemiological insights.
