ViroBlogy

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, say scientists.

They 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.

The team’s findings are published in EMBO Molecular Medicine.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Really??  Kids played in a hollow tree where bats USED to be – and the bats in which no-one can find Ebola, are the source of the epidemic? Really??

Now even for one who is prepared to believe the worst of bats – which I am; I am on record as calling them fabulous furry flying cockroaches – the evidence here is VERY thin.

Consider the facts in evidence: 

"Villagers reported that children used to play frequently in the hollow tree"

"Emile – who died of Ebola in December 2013 – used to play there, according to his friends."

"The villagers said that the tree burned on March 24, 2014 and that once the tree caught fire, there issued a "rain of bats""

"A large number of these insectivorous free-tailed bats …were collected by the villagers for food, but disposed of the next day after a government-led ban on bushmeat consumption was announced."

"{While] The scientists …were unable to test any of the bushmeat 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."

So – the chain of logic goes: 

– Kids played in a tree

– One kid got Ebola

– Bats lived in the tree

– Those bats can be infected with Ebola

– Therefore the one kid was infected by those bats.

Really??  You would convict a whole community of bats for that, IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY EVIDENCE they ACTUALLY carried Ebola??

This is thin – very, very thin.  I am also quite happy to believe the Ebola outbreak started with bats, BUT this proves nothing.  More evidence, less hype!!

See on Scoop.it – Virology News

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