Researchers from the University of Zurich have discovered a beta version of the corona virus in Swiss bat specimens. The Institute of Virology at the Vetsuisse Faculty of Veterinary Medicine has processed samples from more than 3000 bats and examined them for viruses.
Professor Cornel Fraefel, head of the institute, says about the “SRF”: “We found a relatively large number of different viruses in the bats.” Among them is also a beta coronavirus, which is similar to the so-called Mers coronavirus. The Covid-19, a Sars corona virus, is currently rampant in Switzerland.
The scientists are currently examining whether the virus can be transmitted from animals to humans. “A direct infection by a bat’s corona viruses is very unlikely,” says Fraefel. Gloves should be worn on sick or dead animals. The Swiss Bat Protection Foundation advises this in a leaflet.
Attacks on bats
Because experts believe bats are considered possible carriers of the coronavirus, the fear of animals is said to have increased enormously in Asia and South America. In early April, 300 bats were burned by locals in their cave in northwestern Peru.
The inhabitants assumed that the animals had transmitted the corona virus and were responsible for the corona dead in Peru. Members of the National Forestry and Wildlife Service were able to save 200 bats. They released them in another area.
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