While there is enough consensus among a large section of scientists on bats being the origin of Coronavirus which has wreaked havoc around the world for the last one and a half years.
Scientists in a new study tried to understand if humans in return can transfer the Coronvirus to bats. In a new study which has been published in the Conservation Science and Practice journal, scientists estimated if humans could become the carriers of Coronavirus and spread it among the bat population, The Indian Express reported.
The research conducted by the US Geological Survey found that the risk of spreading Coronavirus to bats from scientists doing research experiments deep inside the caves of bats was extremely low.
In the conclusive findings, scientists found that even if the scientists conduct their research in the bats caves without any precautions, the probability of spreading the virus was less than 0.001 percent. The scientists further said that if scientists have worn some kind of equipment and also tested negative for Coronavirus before embarking on their bats research, then the probability would dip further and would be 1 in 3333.
Contrary to popular perception, that bats are nothing more than a dispensable vermin that spreads various kinds of zoonotic diseases and infections among the human population, scientists find the existence of bats extremely critical and beneficial for human race.
Bats who are the second-largest bunch of mammals after rodents save $3 billion per year for the US agriculture industry by consuming pests and insects that can damage the crops and harvest. This way, farmers have to rely on less pesticide and insecticide and save on their input costs.
The research included three kinds of bat species namely-free-tailed bats, little brown bats, and big brown bats. All three species of bats have unique physical and behavioural diversities and formed the ideal mix for conducting a study on the possibility of Covid-19 transmission from humans to bats.
The risk was estimated by assuming that a team of five scientists spend about an hour in a cave inhabited by about a thousand bats during the winter season.
Originally published at Financial express