NORMAN, Okla. ( KFOR ) — When stressed, bats can shed different pathogens like the coronavirus.
While it’s not necessarily the same thing we saw in the U.S. during the pandemic, research at the University of Oklahoma is studying fruit bats in Central America to look into that process and how it works to see if the stress makes them shed more viruses than a non-stressed bat.
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“We’re trying to figure out, you know, when they get sick and if there is a human risk, how to mitigate it,” said Dr. Daniel Becker, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the university.
It’s a fairly simple goal for Becker as they prepare to research fruit bats in Belize. Soon, thanks to funding from the Human Frontier Science Program, he’ll have a chance to reach it.
“We’ve had funding from them to sort of work on a couple of different projects,” Becker said.
Bats can be stressed during pregnancy, changes in habitat, or migration time. Their plan is to find out if that makes them shed more viruses.