Editor's Summary

1 December 2005

Ebola virus: don't eat the bats

Since the first human cases of Ebola virus infection were recorded in 1976, much effort has gone into the search for a viral reservoir in wild animals. Now a candidate has been found. Tests in over a thousand small vertebrates from Gabon and the Republic of Congo reveal asymptomatic Ebola virus infection in three species of fruit bat. These are eaten by local populations, suggesting a possible route for human infection.

Brief Communications: Fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus

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

Eric M. Leroy, Brice Kumulungui, Xavier Pourrut, Pierre Rouquet, Alexandre Hassanin, Philippe Yaba, André Délicat, Janusz T. Paweska, Jean-Paul Gonzalez and Robert Swanepoel

doi:10.1038/438575a

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