We know surveillance is used to keep an eye on convenience stores and homes; it is also used to monitor the spread of infectious diseases. Of course, video cameras wont work to spot viruses or bacteria, so researchers at Colorado State University are working to create other methods that allow us to watch out for infectious disease harmful to humans.

Anna Fagre, Ph.D. student in CSUs Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Pathology, investigates how bats might be useful for disease surveillance. In Uganda, Fagre studies bats in caves visited by humans for recreational or religious purposes to determine what diseases or viruses might be present in that area.

We look at the potential for bats to act as reservoirs for these viruses, Fagre said.

Through non-lethal sampling, Fagre collects blood, saliva and fecal samples to find out what diseases exist in the bats. This information allows the researchers to determine if a particular disease might spread via blood through arthropod vectors like mosquitoes, or through the bats own fluids.

As the first veterinarian to receive the $25,000 Robert E. Shope International Fellowship, Fagre specializes in understanding the parasites found on bats, such as ticks and bat bugs, to study how these arthropods might transfer diseases from bats to humans.

But her team intends to take data collection a step further.

When we trap the bats, well be microchipping them, kind of like you would a dog or a cat, so we can identify the bats moving forward, Fagre said.

With GPS technology, the team will be able to track individual bats, view where they have been, and examine whether theyve picked up a disease between samplings. This can be extremely valuable in pinpointing where a virus is spreading from or what population of bats has been infected.

It allows us to get a step ahead of the virus, Fagre explained. If we know which viruses are present in the bat populations, and we know that humans are interacting with these bats by coming into these caves, then we know exactly which pathogens or viruses to be monitoring for in the human population.

This information can help doctors to diagnose the problem more quickly in patients with unknown illnesses.

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What we're learning about infectious disease from bats and mosquitos - Source