Abstract
A number of viruses isolated from bats have been believed to be causative agents of the emerging infectious diseases in humans. This idea is supported by the facts that SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-like CoVs have been isolated from horseshoe bats and also the viruses isolated from pigs or horses infected by the Nipah virus or Hendra virus shed from fruit bats caused emerging diseases in humans From these observations, attempts have extensively been done to find the viruses from bats with newly established technology for isolation of the unidentified gene from animal tissues and specimen of infected animals. In this mini-review, we overview the importance of bats as natural hosts of viruses that cause human emerging diseases and also describe the recent isolation of a variety of viruses from bats.
