Abstract
The severe Ebola virus disease epidemic occurring in West Africa stems from a single zoonotic transmission event to a 2-year-old boy in Meliandou, Guinea. We investigated the zoonotic origins of the epidemic using wildlife surveys, interviews, and molecular analyses of bat and environmental samples. We found no evidence for a concurrent outbreak in larger wildlife. Exposure to fruit bats is common in the region, but the index case may have been infected by playing in a hollow tree housing a colony of insectivorous free-tailed bats (Mops condylurus). Bats in this family have previously been discussed as potential sources for Ebola virus outbreaks, and experimental data have shown that this species can survive experimental infection. These analyses expand the range of possible Ebola virus sources to include insectivorous bats and reiterate the importance of broader sampling efforts for understanding Ebola virus ecology.
Highlights
To date, five Ebola virus species have been described, with the highest case fatality rates caused by the Zaire Ebola virus (EBOV: ~88%)
Our results allow us to exclude the hypothesis that a major die-off in wildlife led to the human epidemic and to pinpoint two hypotheses implicating bats: H1 Fruit bats, the commonly suspected EBOV reservoir, are hunted for their meat in the region
H2 Consumption of fruit bats in the household is an unlikely source of infection for the index case; no hunters were members of this household and a food item-borne transmission would likely have affected adults before or concurrently with the index case
Summary
Five Ebola virus species have been described, with the highest case fatality rates caused by the Zaire Ebola virus (EBOV: ~88%). Hints of active infections in wild populations have been revealed by sporadic EBOV RNA detection in three fruit bat species (Epomops franqueti, Hypsignathus monstrosus, and Myonycteris torquata; Leroy et al, 2005) as well as antibody detection in those species and Eidolon helvum, Epomophorus gambianus, Micropteropus pusillus, Mops condylurus, Rousettus aegyptiacus, and Rousettus leschenaultii (Olival & Hayman, 2014). This suggests bats may be an EBOV reservoir. We led a 4-week field mission in southeastern Guinea in April 2014, just after EBOV was confirmed as the cause of this epidemic, to examine human exposure to bats and other bushmeat, survey local wildlife in the last remaining forests of the area, and capture and sample bats in the index village as well as in neighboring forests (Fig 1)
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