Researchers have detected the highly dangerous Ebola virus for the first time in a bat in West Africa. Further research should now reveal whether more bats are affected and how they spread the virus, the Liberian Ministry of Health said. "This information will help us to develop strategies to reduce the risk of further epidemics," it said. Antibodies to the virus had previously been detected in bats in the region.
The analysis of the genome had shown a great similarity with the so-called Zaire-Ebola virus, which caused the devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014/2015 with about 11,000 dead, said the virologist Simon Anthony of the University of Columbia in New York to the Fund. "This is important because we did not know how the West Africa epidemic came about," said the researcher involved in the analysis. Now, more can be found out about Ebola, including the question of how the virus will be transmitted to humans.
The find has not yet been published in a well-known scientific publication, because the investigations are still ongoing. (You can find a report on the Columbia University website here.) So far, only the DNA from about a quarter of the samples from 4,000 Liberian animals has been analyzed, Anthony explained. But above all it was important for the authorities in Liberia to immediately warn the population against the killing and consumption of bats. The deadly consequences of the Ebola virus are known. "So it would have been wrong to hold back this find," says Anthony.
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Ministry of Health warns against hunting for bats
Experts have long believed that bats or fruit bats can be carriers of the virus and thus the starting point of epidemics. The pathogen was detected in bats of Central Africa years ago. The bat now identified as carrier in West Africa is a long-winged bat of the species Miniopterus inflatus that lives in caves and feeds on insects.
In hundreds of other bats tested so far, however, the virus could not be confirmed. Thus, it could be that the animal was accidentally infected with another wild animal, the species is usually no reservoir for the pathogen.
The Ministry of Health in Monrovia called on all Liberians to stop hunting, killing or eating bats. In Liberia, which according to a UN index is one of the ten poorest countries in the world, wild animals such as bats often serve as food.
Video: At the front in West Africa - fight against Ebola
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In Liberia, since the end of the West African epidemic - which had hit especially Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia - no more Ebola disease has become known. In eastern Congo, there is currently the second most severe outbreak of haemorrhagic fever. There are already more than 700 people are ill, nearly 450 people died.
A protective Ebola vaccine developed after the West African epidemic shows good results so far in the Congo. The virus is named after a river in Congo. It was first detected there decades ago in what was then Zaire. Infected people can transmit the virus via body fluids such as blood, sweat or vomit.