According to a report on the American Fun Science website on the 27th, scientists discovered a new Ebola virus in the Bombali area of ​​Sierra Leone and named it Bombali virus. At least two bats carry the virus. This is the first Ebola virus found in animals before it was detected in humans. The virus may infect humans, but it is not clear whether it will cause disease.
At present, humans have discovered five Ebola viruses: Zaire, Reston, Benedict, Sudan and Tay forest viruses. Except for Reston, the other four species cause serious and often fatal diseases in humans, and the most devastating Ebola epidemic has recently been caused by the Zaire virus.
The Ebola virus was discovered in 1976, and its origins are still unsolved. Previous studies have shown that bats are the main host, but scientists have not been able to isolate and obtain the complete Ebola virus genome from bats.
In order to identify the virus in its host species before it is transmitted to humans, the US Agency for International Development's "Predict" (PREDICT) project Ebola virus host team of scientists, 535 animals from Sierra Leone (244 bats, 46 Biological samples were collected from rodents, 240 dogs and 5 cats and tested for the presence of Ebola in their bodies.
It was found that 4 bats (3 small tailless bats, 1 Angora tailless bat) tested positive for Ebola virus, and other animals tested negative. When sequencing the genome of the Ebola virus that lives on bats, the scientists found that the virus is very different from the previously identified Ebola virus, representing a new type that they named Bambali by discovering it. virus.
Although scientists only detected Bambara virus in bats, they identified a binding protein that promotes the transfer of the virus into human cells, suggesting that humans may be infected with the virus, but there is no evidence that it causes any symptoms. . It is unclear whether the performance of the Bambali virus is more like the Reston virus, or more like the Zaire virus.
Related research papers are published in the latest issue of Nature Microbiology. The author points out that the purpose of this work is not to trigger a panic about bats. Previous studies have shown that culling bats does not reduce the spread of disease, but rather increases the number of susceptible bats and enhances disease transmission.
Editor-in-chief
The source of Ebola and SARS infection has been confirmed to be bats. A bat is one of the easiest animals to carry a deadly virus because its flying ability is associated with a strong immune function, making it carry a virus without disease, and it is a group that is prone to spread pathogens. As we learn more about bats, we will find ways to live in peace without being harmed. (Reporter Liu Xia)
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