Bats have been implicated in the spread of the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which has killed 48 people since April 2012. On 21 August, researchers reported that of 96 bats surveyed in Saudi Arabia, one animal carried a small viral genetic fragment identical to part of the MERS-CoV genome. The scientists say that the match connects bats to the spread of the virus, but critics argue that the fragment is too small to determine whether the animal had been infected with MERS-CoV, or a closely related virus.
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