Back to School

The following day we set out to locate an area where we could do our work near the temple ruins so we could efficiently process our samples.  We met with the headmaster of a nearby school and explained why we were in the area and the type of work we had planned. Noting the importance of our work, he graciously granted us permission to use their facilities for the next week. 

Our makeshift lab was basically an open-air room on the school grounds.  The space had tables, benches and electricity so we were eager to get set up. Later that afternoon we returned to the site with our gear and organized our work area.  We soon learned that the power was pretty sporadic.  This was something that wasn't uncommon, as we knew Bangladesh faced a serious energy problem and lack of infrastructure. Regular blackouts were very frequent during our stay.  

Around midnight we started the process of trapping bats as they returned to their roost after a night of feeding.  In almost complete darkness we set up two mist nets and started to trap around 2:30 am. Within an hour we captured about 12 bats, just enough for us to begin processing the animals and collecting samples before letting the bats return to roost.

Since this was our first night of trapping we decided to spend a lot of time training new personnel and limit sampling to no more than a dozen bats. Diligently working in our field lab at the elementary school our work finished up around 8:00 am. As we headed out get some sleep, school-aged kids exuberantly arrived at school to start their day.

Drs. Olival and Epstein and colleagues working in the field laboratory sampling bats.

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