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. 2018 Mar:58:181-191.
doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2017.12.009. Epub 2017 Dec 23.

Distribution of bat-borne viruses and environment patterns

Aneta Afelt  1 , Audrey Lacroix  2 , Urszula Zawadzka-Pawlewska  3 , Wojciech Pokojski  4 , Philippe Buchy  5 , Roger Frutos  6
Affiliations

Distribution of bat-borne viruses and environment patterns

Aneta Afelt et al. Infect Genet Evol. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

Environmental modifications are leading to biodiversity changes, loss and habitat disturbance. This in turn increases contacts between wildlife and hence the risk of transmission and emergence of zoonotic diseases. We analyzed the environment and land use using remote spatial data around the sampling locations of bats positive for coronavirus (21 sites) and astrovirus (11 sites) collected in 43 sites. A clear association between viruses and hosts was observed. Viruses associated to synanthropic bat genera, such as Myotis or Scotophilus were associated to highly transformed habitats with human presence while viruses associated to fruit bat genera were correlated with natural environments with dense forest, grassland areas and regions of high elevation. In particular, group C betacoronavirus were associated with mosaic habitats found in anthropized environments.

Keywords: Bat viruses; Cambodia; Emerging diseases; Environmental analysis; Evolution of environment; Lao PDR; South East Asia.

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Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Location of the sampling points in Cambodia and Lao PDR. White circle: Sites with coronavirus- and astrovirus-negative bats. Red circle: Sites with both coronavirus- and astrovirus-positive bats. Blue circle: Sites with astrovirus-positive bats only. Yellow circle: Sites with coronavirus-positive bats only. Dark green: Forest; light green: grassland; orange: cropland; red: human settlements; blue: wetland; dark blue: water. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Closer landscape view of the areas of interest. White circle: Sites with coronavirus- and astrovirus-negative bats. Red circle: Sites with both coronavirus- and astrovirus-positive bats. Blue circle: Sites with astrovirus-positive bats only. Yellow circle: Sites with coronavirus-positive bats only. Dark green: forest; light green: grassland; orange: cropland; red: human settlements; blue: wetland; dark blue: water. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Hierarchical classification of landscapes and definition of areas of interest (AOI). Orange: cropland; dark green: forest; light green: grassland; red: human settlements; blue: wetland; dark blue: water. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Principal component analysis of the distribution of viruses with respect to environment types. a. Distribution of coronaviruses. b. Distribution of astroviruses.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Principal component analysis of the distribution of bats genera with respect to environment types.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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