Week 7: Project Background

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 Hello Everyone! Welcome Back!

The spring semester is awfully sassy! I never know what to expect out of it now. I, like many of you, have been locked out of everything from Canvas to student email. This week has been a lot of catch-up. 

For my Plague project, the background isn't really relevant. It essentially remains the same background information from last semester. 

For the bats, I did find out something really interesting when reading through some sources. They have a very low tumorigenesis, which means they don't produce many, if any, tumors. Also, many of the viruses they harbor act oncolytic. Meaning, the viruses actually attack cancer cells and keep them from replicating. This is a really cool mammalian feature, and I hope could be studied and applied to humans. 

Overall, I don't believe it ultimately answers, "Why do bats harbor so many viruses?" Cancer typically isn't a huge selective pressure unless it affects a species before or during prime reproductive ages. While cancer can develop and spread at any age, it would unlikely cause the co-evolution of bats' immune system with viruses. There is still much to be said and learned about this immune feature.

Also, (a probably obvious fact) bat's habitats have a lot to do with their disease spread. It doesn't explain why they can be asymptomatic with deadly viruses. However, it does explain why pathogens can spread so rapidly amongst populations. Humid, warm, and damp caves are like little petri dishes for bacteria, fungus, and viruses. 

This is a screenshot of one of the bats the echo meter found (not the actual bat but one from the same species). This one has been the cutest and my favorite, thus far. Also, I think a Canyon bat has been following me.  



Wang, L., Wynne, J. (2013). Bats and viruses: friend or foe?. Public Library of Science, 9(10).                      https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Journals&result               ListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&hitCount=16&searchType                              =BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CA351945484&docType=Rep                         ort&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXBEMOD1&prodId=SCIC&pageNum=1&cont                       entSet=GALE%7CA351945484&searchId=R4&userGroupName=mcc_phoe&inPS=true


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