It is assumed - according to many researchers - that coronavirus (SK) that causes acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) has originated in bats.
However, we do not know how bats kept these viruses in their bodies without getting sick.
In a recent study published in the Scientific Journal of Science on the 29th of last April, researchers found out the reason why bats are a carrier of the Corona virus that causes respiratory syndrome in the Middle East without getting infected, which may contribute significantly to knowing how this was transmitted Viruses to humans and other animals.
Safe haven
Bats are believed to be the source of many coronavirus that cause acute respiratory syndrome and respiratory syndrome in the Middle East, the latest being the SARS-Cove 2 virus that causes Covid-19 disease.
Although these viruses cause serious and sometimes fatal diseases in humans, they are - for some unknown reason - not as bad as bats.
So far, the SARS-Cove 2 virus has infected more than six million people worldwide, and has killed 6-7% of the infected population.
In contrast, the coronavirus associated with respiratory syndrome in the Middle East infected nearly 2,500 people in 2012, but it killed one in three people.
Although camels are the intermediate hosts of the respiratory syndrome virus, the bats are believed to be the first host.
To understand this, the Science Daily website quoted Vikram Misra, principal investigator of the study and microbiologist at Canadian University of Saskatchewan, as saying, "Although bats do not get rid of the virus, they do not get sick."
"So we wanted to understand why the corona viruses that cause respiratory syndrome in the Middle East do not destroy the immune response to bats as they do in humans," the researcher explained.
Mutual coexistence
For the first time, the team discovered an adaptation between the virus and the bat that keeps them together side by side. So the brown bat-eating insect cells were able to remain infected with the Corona virus for several months.
"Instead of the virus killing the bat cells as it does in human cells, it maintains a long-term relationship with it, in cooperation with the immune system's superior immune system. Therefore, we believe that the modern SARS-Cove 2 virus works in the same way," he added.
Researchers believe that the conditions surrounding bats - such as selling them in wet markets, as well as diseases that affect them or even the loss of their homes - may be the reason behind the spread of corona viruses to other types.
These pressures "strain the balance between the immune system and the virus inside the bat, which leads to its reproduction," says a researcher.
Daryl Valzarano, the developer of the first possible treatment for corona viruses associated with respiratory syndrome in the Middle East and participating in this study, sees "the coronary respiratory syndrome virus in the Middle East can adapt quickly anywhere."
The researcher pointed out that "this explains how these viruses can transmit between living species without much trouble."
Adjustment mechanism in the bat
A previous study showed that coronary bat viruses can remain latent with their natural host for four months, "but we do not know much about the molecular interactions of these viruses with their hosts," says the lead researcher.
The secret lies in how quickly coronavirus adapts to the types it infects. When bats are exposed to corona viruses, which cause respiratory syndrome in the Middle East, they acclimate to them.
Not only by producing allergy proteins - the hallmark of the disease - but by maintaining the natural antiviral response; It is of course the discontinued function in other species. It also modifies a gene very quickly.
The research concluded that these rapid adaptations keep the virus harmless for a long time in the bat until this delicate balance is strained after something happens, such as illnesses or other stresses. Then the transition to other species begins.