Bangladesh bats found to have Ebola antibodies according to study
Rousettus aegyptiacus–the Egyptian fruit bat
Image/Zoharby via Wikimedia Commons
Newly published research shows that a percentage of fruit bats in Bangladesh were found to have Ebola virus antibodies, suggesting that they are a reservoir for Ebola or an Ebola-like virus, according to an EcoHealth Alliance news release Jan. 16.
The research is published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases for February 2013.
The study by the EcoHealth Alliance found Ebola virus antibodies circulating in ~4% of the 276 Rousettus fruit bats scientists screened in Bangladesh.
“Research on filoviruses in Asia is a new frontier of critical importance to human health, and this study has been vital to better understand the wildlife reservoirs and potential transmission of Ebola virus in Bangladesh and the region,” said Kevin Olival, senior research scientist at EcoHealth Alliance, who led the study, the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases reported.
Filoviruses are zoonotic pathogens (diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans) that cause lethal hemorrhagic symptoms among humans and non-human primates with case fatality rates up to 80 percent. Natural reservoirs of filoviruses have remained elusive for decades but current literature suggests that bats may be the primary natural hosts of Ebola virus.
