Washington Post: On a Bat’s Wing and a Prayer
“…[B]ats carry the deadly Marburg virus, as fearsome and mysterious as its cousin Ebola. Scientists know that the virus starts in these animals, and they know that when it spreads to humans it is lethal — Marburg kills up to nine in 10 of its victims, sometimes within a week. But they don’t know much about what happens in between. … [A] team of scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traveled [to Uganda] to track [bat] movements in the hopes that spying on their nightly escapades could help prevent the spread of one of the world’s most dreaded diseases. … U.S. officials are so concerned about Marburg becoming a global threat that the CDC is seeking funding from the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency to cover the cost of the bat trackers, which are about $1,000 each. The CDC is hoping to track more of these Rousettus aegyptiacus bats in several other caves in Uganda…” (Sun/Mount, 12/13).