Batter's Up!

Early in the morning, the team assembled, field gear was packed and we awaited departure to our field site in Faridpur.  About four hours west of Dhaka, Faridpur is the site of recent human Nipah virus outbreaks and ongoing bat surveillance.  Our field work will consist of trapping and sampling bats to test for disease.

We are working with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) and our team is made up of eight members mostly wildlife veterinarians from both EcoHealth Alliance and ICDDR,B.  I've toted field gear through Thailand and Malaysia before arriving in Bangladesh.  The telescopic, fiberglass poles that are used to set up large nets have been lugged around from place to place.

During our drive out to Faridpur, I was excited and slightly nervous since we haven't trapped small bats here before. The first few days in the field will likely involve searching out bat roosts and then brainstorming on where and how to net them at night.  The entire process involves a lot of trial and error and we take every precaution to handle the bats carefully.

Before the trip I printed images of the four species of bats that we'd most likely encounter thus providing a small visual guide for the team.  The bat photos included Rousettus, Cynopterus, Eonycteris, and Scotophilus spp.  I'm hoping this will be a very successful field trip and that we are able to collect a lot of samples. 

Reporting from Bangladesh, EcoHealth Alliance scientist Kevin Olival is working on the ecology of Nipah virus and the discovery of pathogens in bats.