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February 12, 2013

With Viruses, Bats Worse than Rats

Susan Milius, ScienceNews


AP Photo

A bat species may be more likely than a rodent to carry viruses known to jump from other animals to people, a new study suggests.

Per species, bats also harbor more known viruses in total than rodents do, including wildlife-only infections as well as those that also infect people, says Angela Luis of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. And a bat virus on average has a greater number of species it can infect, Luis and her colleagues report February 1 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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TAGGED: zoonotic infection, virus, rats, bats

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