The current Ebola epidemic has led to more than20,000 infectionsand almost 8,000 deaths in just one twelvemonth , but how did it all start ? Newly gathered data is eventually yield some important clew that point to a rather unexpected defendant . According to scientistswho have been investigating a settlement in Guinea where the outbreak is think to have begun , undercoat zero may have been a hollow Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in which a small , insectivorous bat species dwelled . Frustratingly , however , theevidence was burnedwhen someone set fire to the tree diagram just before the researchers arrive , meaning it is going to be very difficult to confirm their guess .
Ebolais a zoonotic disease , meaning that it can be convey between animals and humans . It ’s introduced into the human population through contact with bodily fluid of septic brute . Although previous outbreaks in humans have been linked to irruption in wildlife , such as gorilla and chimpanzees , no one knows which creature are the natural man-made lake for the Ebola computer virus . However , scientists have suspected yield bats for some time now . This is because these animals are often hunted as a solid food generator in Africa , so mankind have plenty of contact with them , and scientist havefound genetic materialfrom Ebola virus in several yield at-bat species .
That ’s why a team of investigator from the Robert Koch Institute , Berlin , have been examining wildlife in the orbit of southeast Guinea that the irruption is call up to have originated , looking for signs of the disease and computer virus in several unlike fauna . The first sheath of the outbreak is thought to be a young male child that lived in a village called Meliandou , who died of Ebola - corresponding symptom in December last twelvemonth . Shortly after he died , several distaff family member caught the disease , but no men die in the early microscope stage of the outbreak . This seemed to argue that hunt or scavenged animals were plausibly not the source .
In backing of this , the researcherscouldn’t find any evidenceof declension in wild animal such as monkeys and duikers . what is more , they could n’t find lineal evidence of viral infection in any of the13 speciesof chiropteran they examine . However , they did give away something interesting .
Near the village were the burn remains of a empty tree , in which kid used to dally . According to topical anesthetic , when it was burn , there was a “ rainfall of bat , ” – little bat with a long tail that the locals refer to as lolibelo . When the researchers try out the ash tree around the tree , they regain DNA from a species that matches the locals ’ description- the insectivorous , free - tailed batM. condylurus . Apparently theremay have been thousand of batsin there , and the small town children used to barbecue them , so it ’s potential the child may have take in or eaten an septic bat here .
The remains of the tree . Credit : Fabian Leendertz , Robert Koch Institute
unluckily , however , none of the squash racquet they samples were infected , although researchers have previouslyfound antibodiesto Ebola computer virus in this species .
Although the idea is plausible , it ca n’t be proven at the mo , which is why the scientists arecontinuing to sample batsand other wildlife in the region in the hope that more definitive evidence can be gathered
[ ViaEMBO Molecular Medicine , Science , National GeographicandEMBO ]
