Fruit bats could be transmitting Ebola !

Great that's just what we need

WInnipeg Free Press Article

An excerpt from the article

we have a suspicion that these bats are not only transmitting the virus to humans, but also to the Great Apes," said Dr. Jim Strong, whose most recent trip to Sierra Leone was to visit Kailahun. "The Great Apes have been decimated in parts of Africa... up to 85 per cent of the population in some places. So we don't think it (the virus) is hiding in great apes. We think they're a host, just like we are. The bats may have it, but not be symptomatic.

This researcher works at bio-safety level 4 facility called the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada.
The only one of it's kind in Canada.

I'm not sure why this is news. It's been assumed that fruit bats are the main transmitter since all this started.

They're an everyday food in a lot of West Africa and known to congregate in those caves (forget the name of) which have long been basically proven to be the origin of quite a few major diseases and outbreaks such as Marburg Fever - which also affects apes, as it happens.

i thought this was common knowledge
not shocking at all

a reply to: Blue_Jay33

So, if true and apparently it is, and a bat transmits the virus to a person who gets sick and through bodily fluids, etc transmits to others, all that needs to be done is eradicate the bats which would be impossible.

But it makes one wonder where the first case of ebola came from and how was it transmitted?

Definitely not news. From 2012:

Ebola Virus Antibodies in Fruit Bats, Ghana, West Africa

Fruit bats are the presumptive reservoir hosts of Ebola viruses (EBOVs) (genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae). When transmitted to humans and nonhuman primates, EBOVs can cause hemorrhagic fevers with high case-fatality rates. In 2008, we detected Zaire EBOV (ZEBOV) antibodies in a single migratory fruit bat

How do they know that the great apes in some regions have been decimated by Ebola and not humans? Whole tribes of gorillas have reportedly been murdered by poachers.

It's not like apes eat fruit bats, and I would think that something named 'fruit bat' doesn't go around biting apes.

If anything, it's more likely that the fleas that live on fruit bats are being transferred to nearby ape populations; when a carrier dies, the fleas immediately jump off to find another host (which would mean that fleas are also the hosts).

To answer the above question about the first case of Ebola, it's my understanding that the RNA of Ebola is utterly ancient; billions of years old. It is not understood why some creatures are immune and others susceptible. There are many strains; the Reston strain was lethal to monkeys but humans who were definitely infected showed no signs of illness.

originally posted by: eNaR
a reply to: Blue_Jay33

So, if true and apparently it is, and a bat transmits the virus to a person who gets sick and through bodily fluids, etc transmits to others, all that needs to be done is eradicate the bats which would be impossible.

But it makes one wonder where the first case of ebola came from and how was it transmitted?

Marburg and Ebola viruses are known to be at least 10,000 years old. And fruit bats have also been eating fruit and living in hollow spaces and caves. Apes and elephants have always been around too.

Probably it has always been around, but the incursion of humans into these areas has led to the spread of the virus.

originally posted by: signalfire
How do they know that the great apes in some regions have been decimated by Ebola and not humans? Whole tribes of gorillas have reportedly been murdered by poachers.

Fruit bats partially eat fruit, which then drops down to the ground. The apes eat these and get ill or just slow. Poachers/hunters see the ape, kill it and eat it. They get ill and take it back to human villages. Scientists have also found sick apes infected with the virus.

But there's are so many possible feedback cycles - the virus has been found in elephant dung. Do the elephants get this from eating fruit and branches?