Ternenge Apaa et al. (2023) Sarbecoviruses of British horseshoe bats; sequence variation and epidemiology

Horseshoe bats are the natural hosts of the Sarbecovirus subgenus that includes SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Despite the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still little known about the underlying epidemiology and virology of sarbecoviruses in their natural hosts, leaving large gaps in our pandemic preparedness. Dr Samantha Bremner-Harrison, VWT’s Head of Conservation, has contributed to the research and this paper, which describes the results of PCR testing for sarbecoviruses in the two horseshoe bat species (Rhinolophus hipposideros and R. ferrumequinum) present in Great Britain, collected in 2021–22 during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic.