Humanity is ramping up the risk of global health disasters by intruding deep into the world’s bat habitats, breeding grounds for deadly viruses. In this five-part series, Reuters pinpoints the places where the next outbreaks are likeliest.
PART ONE: WEST AFRICA The world’s bat lands are under attack, seeding risk of a new pandemic. Here’s where. Our hunger for resources is driving worldwide destruction of areas rich with bats, carriers of tens of thousands of viruses. A Reuters data analysis pinpoints areas where conditions are ripe for a bat-borne disease to spill over to humanity. We’ve dubbed these areas “jump zones.”
PART TWO: INDIA How a deadly bat virus found new ways to infect people First it jumped from bats to pigs. Then pigs gave it to people. Now the brain-damaging Nipah virus has found a way to leap from bats to humans without an intermediary host.
PART THREE: LAOS China, birthplace of the COVID pandemic, is laying tracks for another global health crisis China’s push to expand its economic reach is driving deforestation and escalating the risk of a bat virus infecting humanity, a Reuters data analysis shows.
PART FOUR: BRAZIL Deep in the Amazon, scientists race against time to identify unknown pathogens The mysteries of the Amazon are as vast as the jungle itself. Researchers are scrambling to learn more about the region’s bat species, the viruses they carry and the epidemiological risks people could unleash as they quickly deforest bat habitats.
PART FIVE: SOLUTIONS Bats carry killer viruses. Scientists suggest ways to cope. Humanity doesn’t have to halt development to avoid pandemic risk. But scientists say a lot needs to change: Recognize the risks around bat habitats. Better assess dangers related to development in bat lands. And invest more in monitoring and responding to deadly outbreaks.