In February of 2025, scientists at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology reported the discovery of a new bat-borne coronavirus, HKUS-Cov-2. While this coronavirus has not spread to human populations yet, it’s a reminder that bats do carry many diseases, especially respiratory diseases.
In fact, the spread of disease via bat is one reason why it’s so important to get bats out of your home ASAP.
We don’t want to demonize bats. It’s not their fault they’re especially prone to passing on zoonotic diseases. However, it is important to understand why they’re such a danger, and what you can do about it.
Unique Physiology and Immune Systems
You might not guess it of a creature that’s linked to getting so many people sick, but bats have an unusually robust immune system. Their immune system is also unique: their inflammatory response is weaker but their antiviral response is stronger. Thus, bats don’t get sick and die off when viruses invade their systems.
The immune system tends to simply store the pathogen in a way that’s harmless to bats, but which is not harmless to other hosts they may come into contact with.
Roosting Habits
Most bats are highly social. Large colonies like to roost in close proximity to one another, ensuring viruses and other pathogens get traded around the colony with ease. Of course, they can also cover significant distances when they fly, which means they get even greater chances to infect other human hosts along the way.
If those bats are roosting in your attic, they’re transmitting them to you too, because they’re leaving their guano and their respiratory droplets everywhere. Don’t count on social distancing: sooner or later those viruses enter your duct work and make their way to you.
Staying Safe and Disease Free
Make sure you know the signs bats have infested your home or business. If you think you might have a bat problem, try not to wait too long to schedule an inspection with Elite Wildlife Services.
In Texas, we need bats to eat the mosquitos. They’re part of the local ecosystem. But we work hard to keep them away from humans and their properties. In addition to carrying disease they do more damage than almost any other critter we combat, so it’s imperative to ensure that you deal with your bat problem as quickly as possible.
