Fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus
Top Cited Papers
- 30 November 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature
- Vol. 438 (7068) , 575-576
- https://doi.org/10.1038/438575a
Abstract
The first recorded human outbreak of Ebola virus was in 1976, but the wild reservoir of this virus is still unknown1. Here we test for Ebola in more than a thousand small vertebrates that were collected during Ebola outbreaks in humans and great apes between 2001 and 2003 in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. We find evidence of asymptomatic infection by Ebola virus in three species of fruit bat, indicating that these animals may be acting as a reservoir for this deadly virus.Keywords
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