ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2013
A comparison of bats and rodents as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses: are bats special?
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 389 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
389 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Leptospira in Brazilian Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera): A Systematic Review.Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Host-pathogen interactions under pressure: A review and meta-analysis of stress-mediated effects on disease dynamics.Ecology letters · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The microbiome of bat guano: for what is this knowledge important?Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2021Pooled it
- Serological and transcriptomic response of African fruit bats to immune challenge with recombinant vaccines expressing Ebola or Nipah virus antigens.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- Predicting unknown mammalian viral hosts with Dynamic Positive-Unlabeled learning.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Virome Diversity in Three Bat Species in Different Environments in Southern Spain.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- RNA Virus Diversity, Cross-Species Transmission, and Molecular Constraints in Two Closely Related Rat Species.Integrative zoology · 2026Article
- Evolutionary Response Patterns of the RodentEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- One Health Insights From Pteropus medius: Nipah Virus Spillover, Microbiota, and Antimicrobial Resistance.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Review
- Species-specific barriers restrict virus spillover potential across the Caenorhabditis genus.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Detection and characterization of a MERS-related coronavirus (Betacoronavirus cameli) in velvety free-tailed bats (Molossus molossus, Mammalia) captured in Southern Brazil.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2026Article
- Changing landscapes, shifting reservoirs: land-use change andApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Targeting Zoonotic Spillover Drivers for Global Pandemic Prevention: A Narrative Review.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- A systematic review and meta-analysis ofOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Review
- Rodent-borne pathogens as economic and zoonotic health threat to livestock farming: a review.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Review
- Development of a Multiplex TaqMan Real-Time PCR Assay for the Simultaneous Detection and Differentiation of Three PathogenicVeterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Outdoor roaming of owned cats elevates risk of zoonotic pathogen exposure: A global synthesis.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Molecular identification of bat fly species and associated Bartonella bacteria from Lopburi and Sa Kaeo Provinces in Thailand.Scientific reports · 2026Article
329 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Bats are the natural reservoirs of a number of high-impact viral zoonoses. We present a quantitative analysis to address the hypothesis that bats are unique in their propensity to host zoonotic viruses based on a comparison with rodents, another important host order. We found that bats indeed host more zoonotic viruses per species than rodents, and we identified life-history and ecological factors that promote zoonotic viral richness. More zoonotic viruses are hosted by species whose distributions overlap with a greater number of other species in the same taxonomic order (sympatry). Specifically in bats, there was evidence for increased zoonotic viral richness in species with smaller litters (one young), greater longevity and more litters per year. Furthermore, our results point to a new hypothesis to explain in part why bats host more zoonotic viruses per species: the stronger effect of sympatry in bats and more viruses shared between bat species suggests that interspecific transmission is more prevalent among bats than among rodents. Although bats host more zoonotic viruses per species, the total number of zoonotic viruses identified in bats (61) was lower than in rodents (68), a result of there being approximately twice the number of rodent species as bat species. Therefore, rodents should still be a serious concern as reservoirs of emerging viruses. These findings shed light on disease emergence and perpetuation mechanisms and may help lead to a predictive framework for identifying future emerging infectious virus reservoirs.
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