Nigeria, July 9 -- Bats harbour many diverse viruses, including coronaviruses. Indeed, Sars, Mers and COVID-19 - which are all caused by coronaviruses - are thought to have emerged from bats. These diseases can be deadly to humans, yet bats seem to be unaffected by them.

Like all animal species, bats possess their own range of pathogens - viral, bacterial and fungal. Organisms are part of an interconnected system of other living things that evolved to exploit and be exploited in turn. Bats have therefore evolved with a set of viruses that infect them and continuously circulate through the bat population.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 is a member of a family of viruses called the coronaviridae (coronaviruses). Coronaviruses,...