How bats carry viruses without getting sick

(Cell Press) Bats are known to harbor highly pathogenic viruses like Ebola or Marburg and yet they do not show clinical signs of disease. In a paper published in the journal Cell Host& Microbe on February 22, scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China find that in bats, an antiviral immune pathway called the STING-interferon pathway is dampened, and bats can maintain just enough defense against illness without triggering a heightened immune reaction.
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news