A year ago, I published my second feature about Ebola virus disease, and since then the Democratic Republic of the Congo has suffered two further outbreaks of the disease. Scientific efforts geared up after the devastating outbreak in West Africa in 2014 are now beginning to bear fruit, and the past few weeks have seen some interesting developments in this field. Specifically, the hypothesis that wild bats are the natural reservoir from which outbreaks in the human population originate (especially if and when bat populations are disturbed eg by deforestation) has been strengthened by the discovery of Ebola in a West African bat. Also, there are further related filoviruses found in bats that could become a worry some day. A new genus of such viruses has now been discovered in bats in China. Meanwhile, the vaccine work is making progress, and researchers have this month reported that a candidate vaccine is safe and effective in monkeys.
And not to forget my feature is now freely accessible:
Preparing for the next Ebola epidemic
(and the first one from 2014, too, of course)
but if things continue to develop at this pace, I may have to write a third one soon ...
This is a Leschenault's rousette fruit bat (Rousettus leschenaultii) seen in a temple in Madurai, Tamilnadu, India. Researchers discovered a new genus of filoviruses in this species.
Credit: Rajesh Puttaswamaiah, Bat Conservation India Trust
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