Lara Williams, Columnist

Yes, Bats Carry Disease. They Also Make Us Healthier.

Maintaining biodiversity has unexpected social and economic benefits.

September 16, 2024 at 4:00 AM UTC

By Lara Williams

Lara Williams is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change.

A Little brown bat with White Nose Syndrome hangs in the Greeley Mine in Vermont, U.S., on March 26, 2009. The Forest Service plans to block visitors from entering 30,000 abandoned mines and hundreds of caves in the Southwest U.S. in an effort to protect bats from the disease, which has decimated bat communities in 13 states and two Canadian provinces.
Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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From ticks and mosquitoes to pangolins and raccoon dogs (two species accused of being the animal origin of Covid-19), the conversation around wildlife and health often hinges on the idea that animals can make us sick.

That’s not necessarily wrong. As humans encroach deeper into wild spaces and alter habitats, we’re creating opportunities for new zoonotic diseases, in which pathogens jump from animal to human, such as bird flu and Ebola. Meanwhile, climate change is bringing infections such as dengue to new areas.