Evidence of Ebola Virus Found in Fruit Bats
An international team of scientists has reportedly found evidence suggesting the Ebola virus may incubate in three species of fruit bats.
Since it was discovered in 1976, the Ebola virus has killed more than 1,200 people in Central Africa, the Geneva-headquartered World Health Organization said, but scientists have been unable to find the virus’s hiding place in nature.
Now a team of scientists — from France, South Africa and Thailand — says it found evidence of Ebola infection in the fruit bats, although, the bats themselves don’t have symptoms, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The team was led by Eric Leroy, an immunologist at the International Medical Research Center in Franceville, Gabon. The researchers reported finding fragments of the Ebola virus — evidence of an immune response to it — among bats in Gabon and Congo. The scientists noted fruit bats are eaten by people in central Africa.
Source: United Press International.
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