WNS Leads to Increased Infant Mortality
September 6, 2024
An important new study, recently published in Science and widely covered by major newspapers like The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, has
Good science attempts to disprove, not prove, hypotheses1. Yet, for more than a decade, a growing number of virologists and epidemiologists have attempted to prove instead of test hypothesized disease threats from bats. Bats make tempting targets because they are found nearly everywhere and are easily sampled and widely feared. Furthermore, sensational speculation linking them to scary diseases has proven lucrative in selling media readership, gaining grants, and advancing careers.
Resulting bias now threatens both the survival of bats and the credibility of science. Unfortunately, growing numbers of academicians, pressured by institutional needs for overhead from large grants, are finding searches for bat disease easiest to fund. They rationalize that a little fear of bats is okay if accompanied by warnings that, despite scary disease speculation, bats are essential and should not be killed.
Unfortunately, fearful people seldom protect and often kill bats2. Transmission of disease from bats is extremely rare and only the remotest of possibilities for anyone who simply doesn’t handle them. Millions of bats live safely with people in cities from America to Australia and Africa. Despite seemingly endless disease warnings, bats have a long history of making safe and essential neighbors.
Early disease claims were based on sampling just four of 26 orders of mammals and included nearly as many bats as all other mammals combined3. A more thorough analysis has shown that bats harbor no more viruses than other vertebrates4. Disease transmission from bats is historically remarkable mostly due to its rarity.
Ebola and Covid-19 are among the diseases most frequently attributed to bats. Yet neither has been isolated from a bat. Sensational speculation linking such diseases to bats often has been based on flawed science5,6,7. Ebola has long been speculated to come from bats, and in 2014, searches for its origin focused almost exclusively on bats8,9,10.
However, in 2016, Leendertz argued that bats were unlikely reservoirs and urged consideration of alternative hypotheses11. By 2021, it was finally discovered that Ebola could lie latent and undetected for long periods in humans12. Ebola is now known to be endemic in humans, likely accounting for continuing outbreaks that have been attributed to bats13. Antibodies found through gorilla fecal analysis suggest additional reservoirs in great apes14.
Covid-19 also has been widely speculated to come from bats, though intense efforts to prove the bat-origin hypothesis have failed. Unjustified, yet scary speculation continues5. Inexplicably, relevant records on “gain of function” lab research have been withheld from investigators, leaving key questions unanswered15,16. Hendra virus, first discovered in 1994, and found only in Australia, is one of the world’s rarest diseases. It is transmitted from flying foxes to horses and has killed approximately 100 horses and 4 sick-horse-exposed veterinarians17. There is an effective vaccine for horses, and times of risk are predictable18.
Unfortunately, this rare and easily preventable disease has made world headlines, while far greater threats from other sources have remained largely ignored. For example, rapidly growing danger from drug-resistant bacteria, largely created by consumption of meat produced on factory farms, has been known for more than two decades. But they remain relatively unreported19,20. We are warned that bats are among the “world’s most dangerous animals”21. However, as early as 2013, at least two million Americans were already being infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, causing 23,000 deaths22. By comparison, the annual American death rate from all bat-transmitted diseases combined is just 1-2 (bitten in self-defense while attempting to handle a grounded bat without seeking vaccination)!
We deeply appreciate members, colleagues, and friends who help us stay abreast of exaggerated claims. Even better, directly contact publishers and funders that foster irresponsible fear of bats. Finally, ask organizations you support for their help. We work hard to provide up-to-date resources and are always happy to aid your efforts. Simply saying that bats are essential and in need of protection isn’t enough. In truth, they have one of our planet’s finest records of not spreading disease. The scariest claims come from those who profit most from fear. They may love bats, but in truth, they love fear-generated profits even more.
References
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Michael Lazari Karapetian has over twenty years of investment management experience. He has a degree in business management, is a certified NBA agent, and gained early experience as a money manager for the Bank of America where he established model portfolios for high-net-worth clients. In 2003 he founded Lazari Capital Management, Inc. and Lazari Asset Management, Inc. He is President and CIO of both and manages over a half a billion in assets. In his personal time he champions philanthropic causes. He serves on the board of Moravian College and has a strong affinity for wildlife, both funding and volunteering on behalf of endangered species.