Researchers Find Ebola Genetic Material In West African Bat, Liberian Health Officials Announce

New York Times: Deadly Ebola Virus Is Found in Liberian Bat, Researchers Say
“For the first time, the type of deadly Ebola virus responsible for recent epidemics has been found in a bat in West Africa, Liberian health officials announced on Thursday…” (Grady, 1/24).

Science: This bat species may be the source of the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa
“…Near the mouth of an abandoned mineshaft in Liberia, [scientists] caught a bat that was likely infected with Ebola Zaire. The researchers didn’t isolate the virus itself but found about one-fifth of its genome in the animal; it’s too early to tell whether it’s exactly the same strain as the one that ravaged the [West Africa] region…” (Kupferschmidt, 1/24).

Washington Post: Scientists find deadly Ebola virus for first time in West African bat
“…The discovery represents a major step forward in understanding where human Ebola cases come from, one of the biggest unanswered questions surrounding these outbreaks, said Jonathan Epstein, a scientist with EcoHealth Alliance, a global nonprofit that is part of the research team. … But Epstein and others cautioned that much more research is needed…” (Sun, 1/24).

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