reservoir host

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a living organism that harbours a pathogen in conditions that allow it to survive and reproduce, without necessarily causing disease or significant harm in the host itself, and from which the pathogen can be transmitted to other susceptible species; reservoir hosts maintain pathogens in ecological circulation between epidemic events, enabling re-emergence when conditions favour spillover; bats have been identified as reservoir hosts for numerous highly pathogenic viruses including rabies lyssaviruses, Marburg virus, Nipah virus, and the coronaviruses ancestral to SARS and SARS-CoV-2; identifying the reservoir host of a novel pathogen is a critical step in understanding transmission dynamics and developing strategies to prevent future spillover events