Bats are the major reservoir of coronaviruses worldwide

Results of a five-year study in 20 countries on three continents have found that bats harbor a large diversity of coronaviruses (CoV), the family of viruses that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS). PREDICT is a globally coordinated effort to detect and discover viruses of pandemic potential and reduce risk for future epidemics.