Katharine Sharon’s peer review of Sarah Repsher’s article:This was an interesting and introspective article on Hendra virus from the point of view of the bats. While most people know Hendra virus is spread via flying foxes to horses and then horses to humans, this article highlighted one of the more interesting aspects of bats as reservoirs – even though the virus is widespread in bats, the bats don’t have clinical signs associated with the virus. As this article states, Hendra virus is transmitted horizontally between bats. This is frightening information when you consider that all a horse has to do is ingest bat secretions or birthing fluids to become infected. Inaddition, this article shows that stressors – such as a lack of food – increases the bats’ susceptibility of contracting the virus, which is an alarming point since the rampant outbreaks and spread of the virus experienced in 2011 was deemed due to bats traveling further for food. This article is a creative take on a worrisome and interesting virus.
Sarah took a completely different perspective with this project and it was a breath of fresh air. You could really see her creative side coming out in her writing! The graphics in the article were well integrated and I loved the bit of humor at the end about watching their aim! The bats are often depicted negatively when considering the Hendra virus, but Sarah’s article challenged the reader to look at the situation from their point of view. I enjoyed this reading experience and applaud Sarah’s creativity.-Tarah Satalino-