According to German researchers, large wild mammals roaming the forests are not the cause of the initial outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, but infected bats in the village where a child was first infected with the virus about a year ago
The outbreak of the Ebola epidemic that is still in progress in West Africa may have been caused by contact between humans and bats infected with the virus. This is according to a new study.
From the study, which was led by researchers from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and which was published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, it appears that bats from the Ashpi family (with free tails) that feed on insects may be the reservoir of the virus. The researchers expand the range of possibilities for the source of Ebola to this family of bats. The findings also reveal that larger wild animals are not the source of infections.
The Ebola epidemic has zoonotic origins, meaning they are transmitted to human populations either through contact with large animals living in the wild or through direct contact with bats. "We monitored the population of large mammals near the village of Maliando in southeastern Guinea and found no evidence that they are the source of the current outbreak," says Fabian Lindertz from the Robert Koch Institute, who led the study. The second possible source of the outbreak seems more appropriate - direct contact with bats in the infected area.
Fruit bats are the common suspects as a reservoir for the Ebola virus, as previous outbreaks in Africa have shown. An interview with locals in Maliando revealed that exposure to fruit bats while hunting them and eating their flesh is common in this area. Despite this, this time the fruit bats are not the source of the infection, because transmission through the food would have affected adults before it affected a two-year-old toddler - the first victim of the disease. Therefore, this option was excluded from the calculation.
Another possible source of infection was a large colony of bats from the insect-feeding family of bats that live in a hollow tree trunk near the home of the first patient - Emil Owaamuno, two years old from the small village. The villagers reported that children use the hollow tree for games. As a result, they were exposed to bats, and according to the researchers, this is indeed the most likely source
The multidisciplinary team of researchers led a field expedition in Guinea in April 2014 to investigate human exposure to bats, survey local wildlife, and capture and sample bats in Malindau and nearby forests. The village itself is not located in the forest but in an area that has undergone changes by man, representing the 'modern' structure of Africa.
The virus spread from Malindao to other areas in Guinea as well as to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal, as well as isolated incidents in other countries in the world - most of them by medical staff members who contracted the virus while trying to treat patients. This is the largest Ebola epidemic to date. As of December 17, 2014, it caused the death of 7,800 people.
12 תגובות
Hello everyone
I would be careful not to accuse or even suspect bats, it seems unfounded to me and also reminds me of the past when millions of bats were destroyed due to assumptions and prejudices.
Monkeys, bats, humans. What does it matter who the source is. The main thing is that there are some who profit from it.
It's been about two years since then, so there's no way I've contracted rabies
The window above the bed is really close to the tree, albeit with bars, but it's always open, so there's no way a bat won't get in.
And from here to scratches on the back, the distance is short.
Maybe they made me a mosquito repellent
Kobi
I lived in an area infested with bats, both cow bats and insectivores. An interesting point - these eat cows and these eat insects.
I don't think they will scratch a human being…
If you insist that these are scratches from a bat, then go immediately (!!!) to the nearest emergency room and tell them!!! Bats are carriers of rabies, and you don't want rabies……
To pine
These are not human scratches, these were thin scratches with a small gap, you could see a pattern of three adjacent stripes,
It is impossible to make such scratches with my hand, even if I wanted to, because it is not appropriate in terms of size and spacing.
I know what a mosquito itch is, it's not a mosquito itch.
To Kobe
Maybe it's possible that a mosquito stung you at night and then you scratched in your sleep
giving
People like you tend to win the Darwin Award.
The name of her family, attributed to the transmission of the disease, is free-tailed bats,
They eat insects and the chance of getting infected from them is small unless... you come into contact with body fluids,
Maybe the children played in a place that was saturated with bat urine,
Maybe even bitten or scratched by a bat,
but :
Usually the disease is spread by fruit bats or monkeys
that make up a significant (and appreciated) part
From the typical menu of African villagers.
Very interesting.
Bats also come in at night through the window and scratch people while they are sleeping, and I personally received such scratches, scratches on my back and shoulders and sometimes on my arms,
Until I put a net on the window to prevent mosquitoes, and since then the scratches also disappeared, and then I realized it was from the bats.
There are bats on the tree near the window at night, and I would only get the scratches at night, even though I would also sleep during the day due to shifts.
I don't believe in pharmaceutical companies that lie all the way to the bank, the disease was invented by humans and its purpose is to make money and as much of it as possible...