Oxford study predicts 15 more countries are at risk of Ebola exposure
By Abby Phillip
WashingtonPost.com
September 9, 2014
Until this year’s epidemic, Ebola did not exist in West Africa. Now with more than 1,800 people dead from the virus, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, scientists still don’t fully understand how Ebola arrived from Central Africa, where outbreaks of this strain of the virus had occurred in the past.
A new model by Oxford University takes a look at the most likely explanation — that Ebola’s animal reservoir, fruit bats, could spread the disease in the animal kingdom and to humans through the dense forest that spans 22 countries.
Several species of fruit bats are suspected — though not confirmed — to carry Ebola without showing symptoms. Unlike humans and other animals who are likely to die from an Ebola infection, bats can carry the disease and infect other bats and animals, such as monkeys and rodents through migratory activities.
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