A novel pathogen found in bats is “zoonotic,” meaning that it can transmit from animals to humans, Israeli researchers published online in The Journal of Infectious Diseases on Monday.
Writing in the peer-reviewed article, which will appear in print in the journal published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the nine Israeli scholars note that bats are knowns a a “natural reservoir of several zoonotic viruses that pose a threat to public health worldwide.”
The novel pathogen Israeli Rousettus aegyptiacus Pox Virus (IsrRAPXV), which is “associated with high morbidity and mortality” in Egyptian fruit bats, was found in a female patient, who was hospitalized with “systemic symptoms and severe painful skin lesions on her hands,” per the Israeli scholars.
The researchers performed a quantitative polymerase chain reaction test—which is also called a “real-time PCR” and is one of the tests that has been used to identify COVID—whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis to conclude that the poxvirus caused the painful hand lesions.
“The patient interacted with wounded and sick bats as a volunteer in a bat shelter run by the Israel bat sanctuary organization,” the researchers wrote. “Samples collected from the patient’s skin lesions were positive for the presence of IsrRAPXV by PCR. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis showed that this virus is identical to IsrRAPXV originally described by us as the causative agent of skin lesions in fruit bats.”
The scholars—who come from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv University and Kimron Veterinary Institute (Bet Dagan)—concluded that IsrRAPXV can transfer from bats to humans.
“Veterinarians and volunteers working in bat shelters should meticulously follow the guidelines of working with bats and use required personal protective equipment,” they wrote.
