Zoonosis and Bats: Evolution of Virulence and Disease Outbreaks

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought the entire world to a near lockdown. Having infected more than 6,54,08,787 people and claiming more than 15,09,743 lives as on 4th December 2020 it has made mankind to rethink over its claim of being highly advanced. Although we have come a long way both in terms of technology and medical advancements from 1918’s Spanish flu to latest novel coronavirus outbreak, still somehow we feel ourselves somewhat as helpless as we were back in 1918. There still remains a gap in understanding the full mechanism of the infection cycle of zoonotic diseases and their intensive relationships with their reservoir hosts. In this review we will be discussing why it’s still a challenge for us to fight these viral diseases and also how out of nowhere these diseases appear claiming millions of life every now and then. Also, we will try to understand how the reservoir ‘bats’ escape virulence.