Bats are reservoir for Ebola virus

AFP, November, 2005

PARIS (AFP) — Three species of African fruit bat harbour the Ebola virus, enabling the deadly pathogen to spring out from a natural source and infect animal primates and humans, says a study appearing in the British weekly journal Nature.

The bats were captured in Gabon and the Republic of Congo following outbreaks of Ebola among humans and great apes between 2001 and 2003.

More than a thousand small invertebrates were caught and examined in the quest to see whether a natural haven existed for the haemorrhagic fever virus.

The three bat species are the hammer-headed fruit bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus), Franquet's epauletted bat (Epomops franqueti) and the flying fox (Myonycteris torquata).

Blood samples showed they had been infected by the virus, but none bore any signs of sickness, the study says.

Previous research has already shown that gorillas and other apes suffer a greater mortality from Ebola during ...