Lima, Peru — Bats have become the latest mammals susceptible to H5N1, the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus responsible for bird flu.
In Peru, over a dozen vampire bats have been found carrying H5N1 antibodies, indicating exposure to the virus, researchers report November 11 at bioRxiv.org. The finding is “very worrisome,” says Vincent Munster, a virus ecologist at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., who was not involved in the study. Each time the virus jumps to a new mammalian host, he says, it gains opportunities to mutate and evolve, potentially bringing it closer to spreading among people.
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