Don't eat bats...

The animal reservoir of SARS has just been discovered by two medical teams: the Chinese horseshoe bat (not the civet cat or raccoon dog, which had previously been suspected). Apparently the Chinese penchant for eating ANYTHING, however weird or endangered, has bitten them back. It may make for an interesting cuisine, but is not always the smartest thing to do...

I think the precautions advised indicate they are not falling back on, say, Macdonald's. Since the bat can transmit the disease to palm civets, they should ensure a quarantine: "Most civets that are sold in China as a delicacy are farmed, Dr. Wang said, and the government should ensure civet farms are distant from bat colonies, monitor farmed civets for SARS-like viruses and allow just noninfected animals to go to market."

Good idea, as the old Indian in Never Cry Wolf used to say.

Another thing struck me. Years ago, I read Richard Preston's terrifying and fascinating account of the Ebola and Marburg viruses, The Hot Zone. In it, he goes to the Kitum caves in Kenya, which may be the source of Marburg, and sees bats, which may be the reservoir. He says: "The rocks below the bats were slubbered with wet, greasy guano, a spinach- green paste speckled with green blobs, which reminded me of Oysters Rockefeller. Momentarily and unaccountably, I wondered what the bat guano would taste like. I thrust away this thought. It was the mind's mischeif. You should avoid eating shit when you are in Level 4 [the deadliest level of biological contamination]."

My stepson and I thought this hilarious, and made it into one of our "Simple Rules for Life" : "Don't eat bat shit in a Level 4 Hot Zone". Ha, Ha.

Well, here is another bit from the NYT story: "...in Asia, many people eat bats or use bat feces in traditional medicine for asthma, kidney ailments and general malaise."

Hmm...