Trends in Bacterial Pathogens of Bats: Global Distribution and Knowledge Gaps

Bats have received considerable recent attention for infectious disease research because of their potential to host and transmit viruses, including Ebola, Hendra, Nipah, multiple coronaviruses. These pathogens are occasionally transmitted from bats wildlife, livestock, humans, directly or through other bridging (intermediate) hosts. Due public health relevance, zoonotic viruses a primary focus attention. In contrast, emerging bats, such as bacteria, vastly understudied despite ubiquity diversity. Here, we describe the currently known ranges geographic distributional patterns potentially bacterial genera in using published presence-absence data pathogen occurrence. We identify apparent gaps our understanding distribution these on global scale. The most frequently detected Bartonella, Leptospira, Mycoplasma. However, wide variety also found Anaplasma, Brucella, Borrelia, Coxiella, Ehrlichia, Francisella, Neorickettsia, Rickettsia. bat families Phyllostomidae, Vespertilionidae, Pteropodidae reported hosts pathogens; however, presence at least one genus was confirmed all 15 tested. On spatial scale, molecular diagnostics samples 58 countries four overseas departments island states (French Guiana, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Réunion Island) testing bats. identified geographical areas that been mostly neglected during Afrotropical region Southern Asia. Current knowledge is strongly biased by effort towards certain taxonomic groups regions. Identifying biases can guide future surveillance efforts, contributing better ecoepidemiology