Contact: Samuel Hughes
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擣rom some 8,000 miles away, Mississippi State scientist Manuel Ruiz-Aravena in the university鈥檚 Forest and Wildlife Research Center is studying flying foxes, or fruit bats, in Australia to determine the likely causes of viral spillover from animal to human.
The assistant professor in wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture watches thousands of signatures streak across his computer screen as a cauldron of flying foxes leave their roost near Australia鈥檚 east coast to forage. It鈥檚 a novel experience made possible for the first time using emerging technology鈥斺攁longside Ruiz-Aravena鈥檚 international research.
鈥淚t sounds clich茅 but imagine building the first telescope. No one before has seen Saturn this clearly, and now you鈥檙e seeing it. This is the same鈥攏o one has ever seen a flyout of bats at this resolution, in real time,鈥 Ruiz-Aravena said.
Ruiz-Aravena is lead researcher on a project studying the ecology of Australian flying foxes, which host Hendra virus, a disease primarily found in Australia that can infect both humans and horses. His work aims to help prevent virus spillover from bats to humans.
鈥淲e鈥檙e studying transmission. How do bats encounter horses? How and when and how much virus do bats shed?鈥 Ruiz-Aravena said.
The team uses a mobile radar system developed by Robin Radar Systems placed near flying fox roosts and continuously monitors their movements.
鈥淲e were first involved in environmental studies involving birds, but we鈥檙e starting to have very diverse applications for the radars,鈥 said Sibylle Giraud, vice president of wind and environmental practice at Robin. 鈥淲e seek to provide tools to solve environmental issues globally.鈥
鈥淲ithout this system, we couldn鈥檛 observe collective bat behavior,鈥 Ruiz-Aravena said. 鈥淓ven with GPS trackers on many bats, we might not understand the group. We want to see how bat colonies perceive the environment and how to prevent contact with horses. This is the first time this system has been deployed to answer those questions.鈥
Recent habitat destruction has pressured Australian flying foxes to forage on fruits or non-native flowers, which puts them into closer proximity to horses.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 called 鈥榣and use induced spillover.鈥 You clear the forest, less habitat compromises bat health, and eventually they shed more viruses which are transmitted to humans and other animals,鈥 Ruiz-Aravena explained. 鈥淲e hope to repair the system and determine how to restore habitat to prevent viral spillover.鈥
Ruiz-Aravena collaborates with , a global team studying bat-borne pathogen emergence. Andrew Hoegh, Montana State University associate professor, is synthesizing the Australian data.
鈥淪cientists believe viruses spill over from animals to humans frequently, but often, there鈥檚 no way to know because these viruses may not have detrimental effects on their animal reservoir. When Hendra virus spills over to a horse, the animal often gets sick or dies. This gives us a historical record of when spillovers have occurred, which is unique amongst viral systems,鈥 Hoegh said.
This historical record of Hendra spillovers, combined with field data, climate research, immunology experiments and decades of previous flying fox behavioral research allowed the team to build a model to predict spillover occurrence.
鈥淚f we restore habitat for bats in winter, we stop the whole cascade of events,鈥 Ruiz-Aravena said. 鈥淲hen bats forage on native flowers, they are in better health and seem less likely to shed viruses.鈥
The Australian research is a framework for studying viral systems across the globe. BatOneHealth researchers apply similar principles in Bangladesh, where flying foxes carry Nipah virus, closely related to Hendra.
Ruiz-Aravena said while many discussions about controlling viral outbreaks are medical in nature, BatOneHealth focuses on stopping pathogen emergence before an outbreak begins.
鈥淲e seek to understand how we can manage bat behaviors that allow transmission,鈥 Ruiz-Aravena said. 鈥淧eople sometimes think these viruses are inevitable, but we can stop them if we understand them first.鈥
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