Tony Schountz, an immunologist at Colorado State University, has studied antibody responses to hantavirus in rodents for years. More recently, his team has focused on searching for ways to prevent or treat the illness in people.

Dr. Tony Schountz received a 2026 One Health Faculty Pilot award to study the impact of cadmium on bat health and viral transmission dynamics.

To bat immunologists such as Tony Schountz, the level of virus shedding is intricately related to the so-called immunological détente between pathogens and their bat hosts. “It’s a relationship in which the virus and the host effectively say to each other, ‘If you don’t bother me, I won’t bother you,’” he says.

By closely studying infectious diseases in his colony, Dr. Tony Schountz provides expert information on the implications and future of bat virology and immunology in relation to the pandemic.

CSU researchers expanded their neurovirology work to include anti-inflammatory drug therapies for COVID-19. Colorado State University is one of a small number of universities where this research can take place.

Tony Schountz explains the work of his laboratory showing that deer mice can be infected with and transmit SARS-CoV-2, and how his colony of Jamaican fruit bats is being used to understand their response to virus infections.

Brian Foy and Tony Schountz from the Center of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases discussed the science behind animal-to-human transmission of infectious diseases and how COVID-19 has played out thus far.

How do bats stay healthy while hosting viruses that cause vicious disease in people? The answers could lead to COVID-19 cures.

The global COVID-19 outbreak is serious but isn’t a cause for panic, a panel of researchers and experts at Colorado State University agreed Wednesday.