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Review
. 2016 Feb 11;11(2):e0149237.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149237. eCollection 2016.

Optimizing Viral Discovery in Bats

Cristin C W Young  1 , Kevin J Olival  2
Affiliations
Review

Optimizing Viral Discovery in Bats

Cristin C W Young et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Viral discovery studies in bats have increased dramatically over the past decade, yet a rigorous synthesis of the published data is lacking. We extract and analyze data from 93 studies published between 2007-2013 to examine factors that increase success of viral discovery in bats, and specific trends and patterns of infection across host taxa and viral families. Over the study period, 248 novel viruses from 24 viral families have been described. Using generalized linear models, at a study level we show the number of host species and viral families tested best explained number of viruses detected. We demonstrate that prevalence varies significantly across viral family, specimen type, and host taxonomy, and calculate mean PCR prevalence by viral family and specimen type across all studies. Using a logistic model, we additionally identify factors most likely to increase viral detection at an individual level for the entire dataset and by viral families with sufficient sample sizes. Our analysis highlights major taxonomic gaps in recent bat viral discovery efforts and identifies ways to improve future viral pathogen detection through the design of more efficient and targeted sample collection and screening approaches.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Research and study-level trends.
(A) Number of bat species sampled by year study was published; (B) Number of total viruses found by year study was published; (C) Number of novel viruses found by year study was published; (D) Detection methods used by year study was published; (E) Number of bat species by study; (F) Number of viral families tested per study.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Number of novel viruses found in lethal versus non-lethal studies by viral family.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Prevalence of positive specimens by viral family for each specimen type.
Boxplots show primary tests only; subsequent tests were not used. (A) Median viral prevalence in feces; (B) Median viral prevalence in tissue; (C) Median viral prevalence in saliva; (D) Median viral prevalence in blood/sera (serology only); (E) Median viral prevalence in urine.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Viral prevalence by host and viral family for all molecular studies.
(A) Molecular prevalence by host family; (B) Molecular prevalence by viral family.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Heat map of viral richness by host and viral families, clustered by host and viral families.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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