“鼠”年第一天新增688例，病毒或来自蝙蝠！为什么蝙蝠是多数致命病毒携带者，人类应该远离！（附视频&解说稿）

人类史上，出现过很多危险病毒，如尼帕、亨德拉、埃博拉、马尔堡、非典型肺炎等等，这些病毒都很可怕，其中埃博拉病毒能杀死90%的感染者，致命性极高。而冠状病毒虽然达不到这么高的致死率，但是其传播速度很快。这些令人生畏的病毒有一个共同点，它们都是近50年内出现于人类身上的，并且有着共同的携带者—蝙蝠。

虽然说蝙蝠是病毒的携带者，但是需要澄清一下的是这还真不是蝙蝠的错。我们养的家禽牲畜甚至是我们自己肆意侵入蝙蝠栖息地才很大可能是导致近日疫情爆发和展开的主要原因，热带地区更是如此。

像马来西亚这个国家，连蝙蝠栖息的森林都被商业养猪场占了，这样一来病毒就会从蝙蝠身上传到猪身上，再由猪带给人类，首次尼帕病毒就是这样在人类中爆发的。又比如在澳大利亚，由于原生森林遭到当地居民的破坏，才让果蝠有机会飞进郊区花园，从而萌生出亨德拉病毒。

当然了，蝙蝠所携带的病毒确实比绝大部分动物多，而且携带的大多是对人类致命的病毒。至于背后的原因，很大程度因为蝙蝠是群居动物，即使是不同种类的蝙蝠也会聚集在一起，生活于密闭的空间之内。因此，病毒就能轻易地在它们当中的个体和种群之间广泛传播。

更重要的是，蝙蝠自己受到感染并不会死亡，而且还能安然无恙，至少大部分蝙蝠是这样的，它们照样可以活得很好，还能到处飞行，从而使病毒蔓延下去。

是什么让蝙蝠如此“顽强”?其实很大可能正是因为其飞行特性。蝙蝠是一种会飞的哺乳动物，它们在产生可供飞行的大量能量时，必然也会产生损害DNA的副产物。因此，蝙蝠在飞行过程中就会提高DNA修复能力和其他一些防护措施，比如产生可抑制入侵者的特殊细胞等等，百毒不侵的蝙蝠就是这么来的。

相对于“病毒携带者为何会是蝙蝠”、“蝙蝠受感染为何不会死亡”这两个问题，人类最感兴趣也对我们最重要的是病毒是如何在蝙蝠体内生存的。

恶名远扬的病毒对宿主十分挑剔，它们喜欢寄生在温度能够精确控制的陆生哺乳动物体内。而蝙蝠在飞行的时候体温会上升到约40℃，这种频繁的“桑拿浴”不是一般的病毒能够承受的，最后存活下来的只有少数，是那些进化出耐高温的坚强病毒，对它们而言我们发高烧的温度只是小菜一碟。可见，是飞行成就了蝙蝠对病毒的免疫力，同时也让病毒对我们“免疫”。

既然如此，人类又能拿蝙蝠怎么样呢?我们还需要依靠蝙蝠来传播花粉、控制昆虫等等，毕竟我们对土地爱得那么深沉。另外，或许我们还能在蝙蝠身上学习到一些有用的免疫技巧，比如如何预防癌症之类的。再说了，蝙蝠并非病毒的最大携带者，人类才是，我们最好别再打扰蝙蝠。

Nipah. Hendra. Ebola. Marburg. SARS. These are some of the world’s scariest viruses. Hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola are extremely fatal – they kill up to 90 percent of people infected – while SARS, a coronavirus, has a lower mortality rate but spreads incredibly rapidly. 

All of these nasty pathogens have surfaced in humans in just the last 50 years, and they are all carried by bats. Which, to be clear, really isn’t bats’ fault: the recent rise in outbreaks is likely due to humans and our animals creeping ever-farther into bats’ territory, especially in the tropics. 

In Malaysia, for example, the spread of commercial pig farms into bat-inhabited forests led to the first human outbreak - via pigs - of Nipah. And in Australia, human hendra cases are cropping up as destruction native forests forces fruit bats to feed in suburban gardens. But still: bats do appear to carry more human-killing diseases than pretty much any other animal. 

One big reason is that, with a few notable exceptions, bats love company — different kinds of bats often roost together in huge numbers and close quarters, which helps viruses spread not just between individuals, but also between species . What’s more, most infected bats don’t die — they live pretty normal bat lives, flapping around and giving the viruses time to spread.

In fact, flight may be the reason bats are so resilient to infection. As a rule, mammals can’t produce the immense amount of energy needed for flight without also producing a lot of reactive waste products that damage our DNA. 

So when our bat cousins took to the air, they leveled-up their in-flight DNA damage repair kits and other defenses, including specialized cells that keep viral invaders in check. So bats can survive the deadly viruses - but what may matter even more, for humans anyway, is how the viruses survive the bats. 

Nasty as they are, most viruses are also extremely finicky — in order to thrive, they require the perfectly controlled climate inside a normal, resting, on-the-ground mammal. But when bats take to the air, their internal temperatures cruise to around 40°C.  Those frequent in-flight saunas are far too toasty for your average virus, but a few hardy viruses have evolved to tolerate the heat. Which, incidentally, means they can definitely weather a meager human fever. 

Essentially, flight may have helped bats gain virtual immunity to viruses AND trained viruses to be virtually immune to us. Stupid flying. So, what should we land-lubbers do? We need bats for insect control and pollination - and a whole bunch of other things - maybe we could even learn some immune tricks from them - like how to be really good at not getting cancer! Plus, bats aren’t the biggest carriers of human disease. Humans are - just do the math. Perhaps we’d be better off leaving bats alone, and trying to control the spread of diseases carried by a different kind of flying mammal.