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50 Years of Bat Research pp 331–348Cite as

Bats as Hosts of Important Unicellular Endoparasites

Part of the Fascinating Life Sciences book series (FLS)

Abstract

Some bacteria and protozoan species are important pathogens causing high mortality rates not only in humans, but also in other mammal species including bats. Infectious agents, such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi have been reported in the order Chiroptera, but a thorough analysis of zoonotic unicellular pathogens is needed. To address this topic, we conducted an exhaustive search of literature reports on pathogenic bacterial and protozoan infections in bats, in order to summarize the current state of knowledge on these pathogens. From this search, we obtained information on seven protozoan and 12 bacterial species present in 187 bat species, which were retrieved from 169 articles. Despite all the records, bats are only considered reservoirs for two protozoan species. Thus, more studies are needed to consider bats as reservoirs for bacteria. At North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR) symposia, 17 studies have been presented and discussed, but only two focused on pathogens responsible for the principal causes of death in human populations. More worldwide studies are needed to assess the actual role of bats in public health problems and to help develop conservation measures for bat populations that need to be protected.

Keywords

  • Bacteria
  • Pathogens
  • Protozoa
  • Reservoirs
  • Zoonosis

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Funding

Funding was provided by NSF DEB-1754393, DEB-1441634 and CONACyT.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Medicina Tropical, Departamento de Investigación en Medicina Experimental, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Pablo Colunga-Salas, Estefania Grostieta & Ingeborg Becker

  2. Colección de Mamíferos–Museo de Zoología “Alfonso L. Herrera”, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Giovani Hernádez-Canchola

  3. Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Giovani Hernádez-Canchola

Authors
  1. Pablo Colunga-Salas
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  2. Giovani Hernádez-Canchola
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  3. Estefania Grostieta
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  4. Ingeborg Becker
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Burton K. Lim

  2. Department of Biology, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    M. Brock Fenton

  3. Department of Biology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada

    R. Mark Brigham

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Chico, CA, USA

    Shahroukh Mistry

  5. Department of Biology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA

    Allen Kurta

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA

    Erin H. Gillam

  7. Department of Biology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, USA

    Amy Russell

  8. Departamento de Zoología, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Jorge Ortega

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Colunga-Salas, P., Hernádez-Canchola, G., Grostieta, E., Becker, I. (2021). Bats as Hosts of Important Unicellular Endoparasites. In: , et al. 50 Years of Bat Research. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54727-1_20

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