Investigating the role of bats in emerging zoonoses : balancing ecology, conservation and public health interest

Capacity development is one of the pillars through which the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations supports member countries. This manual serves as a resource for better understanding the ecology of bats, their natural history, their role in providing ecosystem services, techniques used for monitoring populations, and for the detection, identification and monitoring of viruses naturally circulating in bats and that can have significant implication if they are transmitted to people either through direct contact, or indirectly, through livestock. This manual will engage professionals from multiple disciplines ranging from public health and veterinary medicine to natural resource managers and biologists, but most importantly, highlights the need to understand the anthropogenic drivers resulting in disease transmission from bats to people.