The Ebola victim who is believed to have triggered the current outbreak – a two-year-old boy called Emile Ouamouno from Guinea – may have been infected by playing in a hollow tree housing a colony of bats. BBC News reports that scientists made the connection on an expedition to the boy's village, Meliandou. They took samples and chatted to locals to find out more about Ebola's source.
During their four-week field trip in April 2014, Dr Fabian Leendertz and colleagues found a large tree stump situated about 50m from Emile's home.
Villagers reported that children used to play frequently in the hollow tree and his friends said Emile – who died of Ebola in December 2013 – used to play there.
A large number of these insectivorous free-tailed bats – Mops condylurus in Latin – were collected by the villagers for food, but disposed of the next day after a government-led ban on bush meat consumption was announced.
While bush meat is thought to be a possible source of Ebola, the scientists believe it didn't trigger the outbreak. Instead, it was Emile's exposure to the bats and their droppings as he played with his friends in the hollowed tree.
The scientists took and tested ash samples from the tree and found DNA traces that were a match for the animals. While they were unable to test any of the bush meat that the villagers had disposed of, they captured and tested any living bats they could find in and around Meliandou. No Ebola could be detected in any of these hundred or so animals, however. But previous tests show this species of bat can carry Ebola.
[link url="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30632453"]Full BBC News report[/link]
[link url="http://embomolmed.embopress.org/content/early/2014/12/29/emmm.201404792"]EMBO Molecular Medicine abstract[/link]