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Herpesviruses are a large family of DNA viruses that infect all vertebrate classes and are known for causing a wide range of diseases. Unlike many viruses that exploit lapses in host immunity to establish infection, herpesviruses use a different strategy: latency, where it hides to evade immune detection. When hosts experiences stress, the virus can reactivate, leading to renewed infection and transmission. Among mammals, bats host the greatest diversity and prevalence of herpesviruses, and carry some of the highest rates of viral spillover, making them key players in understanding both viral evolution and cross-species transmission.
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Seasonal stressors like migration and reproduction shape how wild animals invest in different parts of their immune system. In Mexican free-tailed bats, we found that both innate and adaptive immune cells fluctuate across the season with certain cell types peaking at key life stages. These shifts suggest bats fine-tune their immune strategies in response to energetic demands, offering new insights into how immune ecology affects disease risk in wildlife.
