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Fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus

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Bat species eaten by people in central Africa show evidence of symptomless Ebola infection.

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.

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Figure 1: Fruit bats as potential carriers of Ebola virus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville, Franceville, BP 769, Gabon

    Eric M. Leroy, Brice Kumulungui, Xavier Pourrut, Pierre Rouquet, Philippe Yaba & André Délicat

  2. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 5202, Paris, 75005, France

    Alexandre Hassanin

  3. National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Special Pathogens Unit, Private Bag X4, Sandringham, 2131, South Africa

    Janusz T. Paweska & Robert Swanepoel

  4. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UR178, Mahidol University at Salaya, Nakhonpathom, 73170, Thailand

    Jean-Paul Gonzalez

  5. Institut de Recherches pour le Développement, UR178

    Eric M. Leroy & Xavier Pourrut

  6. Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville, Franceville, BP 769, Gabon

    Eric M. Leroy & Xavier Pourrut

Authors
  1. Eric M. Leroy
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  2. Brice Kumulungui
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  3. Xavier Pourrut
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  4. Pierre Rouquet
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  5. Alexandre Hassanin
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  6. Philippe Yaba
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  7. André Délicat
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  8. Janusz T. Paweska
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  9. Jean-Paul Gonzalez
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  10. Robert Swanepoel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric M. Leroy.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Leroy, E., Kumulungui, B., Pourrut, X. et al. Fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus. Nature 438, 575–576 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/438575a

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