Sarbecoviruses Spilled Over in Southeast Asia Pre-Pandemic

Our findings underscore the importance of surveillance in rural, high-risk areas.

Antibodies to a virus previously found only in bats were detected in people screened for exposure to sarbecoviruses between 2017 and 2020 in rural Myanmar in Southeast Asia. Using a multiplex surrogate virus neutralization assay to differentiate sarbecoviruses, we found evidence of zoonotic spillover of coronaviruses in rural communities exposed to bats, with individuals working in extractive industries, including logging, hunting, or harvesting of forest products, significantly more likely to have been exposed. Our study, led by Dr. Tierra Smiley Evans and collaborators in Myanmar and Singapore, was published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.