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Ebola Patient Zero Identified, Probably Infected By Bats

Posted by samzenpus on from the first-isn't-always-best dept.

BarbaraHudson writes The CBC is reporting that scientists have possibly found the source of Patient Zero's Ebola infection. From the story: "Patient Zero, two-year-old Guinean Emile Ouamouno, may have been infected while hunting or playing with bats inside a hollow tree near his home in a small village named Meliandou. The study determined Ouamouno's interaction with bats is the likely cause of transmission by ruling out other possibilities, namely that the virus was spread by the consumption of bushmeat. Only children and women presented symptoms or died in the beginning of the current epidemic. Research published in the EMBO Molecular Medicine journal finds that the single transmission, from bat to boy, was then spread human to human."

112 comments

  1. Kids just have to fuck everything up by rebelwarlock · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Like they're not bad enough when they aren't literal disease bearers.

    1. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your statistics is fundamentally flawed. There might be a correlation between crime and skin color, but correlatioin has nothing to do with causation!

      you are a racist because of an argument thats wrong, so maybe you wann rethink your position now that you know that your reasoning was wrong? .. or you can decide to continue to make your own oppinion based on wrong assumptions knowing that ultimately you will be fighting against yourself without even knowing or recognising that you do ..

    2. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know that 1 black guy too.

    3. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Livius · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      I've checked the statistics. You're still a racist.

    4. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Livius · · Score: 0

      Oops, that was meant for parent.

    5. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most serial killers are white.

    6. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Fact 1: Most serial killers strike as adults.
      Fact 2: We are talking about children here.
      Conclusion: Your argument is invalid.

    7. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Smurf · · Score: 1

      Sounds like the parent's job to make sure a kid isn't fucking with bats, you racist twat.

      Racism aside, sexual intercourse with small flying mammals should be actively discouraged, regardless of age.

    8. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There might be a correlation between crime and skin color, but correlatioin has nothing to do with causation!

      Maybe committing a crime makes you black.

    9. Re: Kids just have to fuck everything up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are better than precisely zero races. Looking forward to the day you become a crime statistic. Enjoy. ;)

  2. Joker is very pleased by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    with this report.

  3. Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who cares where the disease came from.

    We need to treat it now.

    Ideally we need to prevent it in the future -- this means immunisation not finger pointing.

    1. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by RogueyWon · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's not finger pointing. Knowing who your patient zero was is absolutely vital if you want to be able to reduce the likelihood of future outbreaks.

      Ebola doesn't have a natural reservoir in the human population; it's too fast-acting and (with the exception of the Reston strain) deadly for that. It tends to have a similar effect on other primates as well. So identifying where the disease does live between outbreaks in the human population (likely in a species which experiences no or limited symptoms from infection) is critical, both for research purposes (the ability to keep an eye on the virus before its latest strain jumps into humans) or for educating people as to which particular pools of the animal population to stay away from.

      If you go back through medical history - right back to bubonic plague having a natural reservoir in rats' fleas - identifying how a virus has been making the jump into humans has been the first stage in controlling it.

    2. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Standard procedure for finding a treatment for a new strain of infectious disease is to find the source of the outbreak.

    3. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I were you I'd have just used a few words. GP probably doesn't even care about reading your reply. My heart aches when I see the time of reasonable people is wasted on morons.

    4. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      Standard procedure for making a new post on slashdot is to criticize wildly based on the summary so someone else explains the article to you.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    5. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 1

      Still, we try.

      Is that few enough for ya? ;)

      --
      -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    6. Re: Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too much punctuation. Second line TLDR. Try this:

      "We still try.

      Short enough for ya?"

    7. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who cares where the disease came from. [...] Ideally we need to prevent it in the future -- this means immunisation not finger pointing.

      This is exactly why we care to know were it came from. So we can prevent it in the future.

      Fucking idiot, you are so obsesses about feeling hurt you can't see beyond your little self. Nobody learn unless they are hurt, that is fact of life. Fuck off.

    8. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by tlambert · · Score: 2

      If you go back through medical history - right back to bubonic plague having a natural reservoir in rats' fleas - identifying how a virus has been making the jump into humans has been the first stage in controlling it.

      Yersinia pestis is a bacteria, not a virus. But yes, identifying patient zero is quite important to fighting any disease.

      The other thing you should probably have corrected the GP about is that we are not in a position to start any kind of wide-scale immunization program against Ebola, since we don't have a proven vaccine for it yet. It's not like scientists are holding out: we just don't have one.

    9. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      The five people who modded him informative, and the thousands who will read his comment because of that, probably care.

    10. Re: Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I learned something new from this reply. Thx.

    11. Re: Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PS: I'm not the OP but just another anon. Just let you know I appreciated the informed reply you made and learned from it, even if the OP is still a moron.

    12. Re:Finger pointer??? WTF???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who cares where the disease came from.

      All the people interested in preventing other, similar outbreaks in the future?

  4. a two year old hunting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hardly credible.

    1. Re:a two year old hunting? by laurencetux · · Score: 2

      depends on what you mean by "hunting"

      is kid Mobile??
      does kid understand MINE! ?
      can kid grab stuff in his/her hands??

      if Yes to all three then yes the Play type hunting is possible

      (also i would not want to face a 2 year old Major Feline)

    2. Re:a two year old hunting? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      I hear a 2-year-old bagged a MILF in Wal-Mart.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
  5. What's odd is that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you never hear about the ebola problem of bats.

    1. Re:What's odd is that by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Just like you never hear about rabies problem of bats either. Just the dogs and humans.

      Which is typically sourced from bats.

    2. Re:What's odd is that by Z00L00K · · Score: 3, Informative

      The bats aren't as sensitive to Ebola as humans. Probably because they have had this disease among them for a long time.

      The Black Death during medieval times was worst the first time around, the second and third time it wasn't as deadly because the survivors from the first hit had the opportunity to spread their genes while those that perished obviously hadn't.

      And it's still not entirely clear if Black Death really was Yersina Pestis or something else.

      In any case - as long as a disease don't have 100% lethality there will be survivors with better genes improving the genetic stock.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    3. Re:What's odd is that by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Yeah laymen's evolution theory at its finest ...

      There several ways to survive a plague:
      a) don't catch the disease, we don't know if that was genetic or luck, likely no influence on 'breeding'
      b) catching the disease, surviving by good nutrition and other lucky cases, no influence on breeding
      c) catching the disease, surviving by 'stronger' immune system. Now if the survivor is young enough, he may breed and spread his 'I survived the plague' gene. On the other hand he might be to old, never breed or if he does: does not pass his gene.

      So bottom line your idea about the plague and genes is utter nonsense.

      The plague is under control because of much much better sanitation, not because humans suddenly became 'immune' to it.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re:What's odd is that by Immerman · · Score: 4, Informative

      Umm, and how exactly do you imagine evolution works? It's just random mutation and not-quite-so-random death. If you have an advantage that delays your death, but don't breed during the respite, then you are irrelevant to that aspect of evolution. But that's very rare - sex is typically a lifelong interest, and males remain fertile indefinitely while humans and orcas are the only known mammals where the females eventually become infertile. Pretty much everything else breeds until death. If you have a trait that reduces your interest in sex, then it will almost certainly be bred out of the population - unless it's genetically linked to something that provides a corresponding advantage to yourself or your close relatives. The selective pressure will obviously be less on age-related changes, which won't start manifesting until most of your breeding opportunities are behind you.

      Basically, we don't need to know why someone survived a plague - it's enough that they did: there will be at least a slightly higher concentration of "useful" genes for surviving the disease among the survivors than there was originally, and thus almost certainly a greater concentration of those genes in the next generation. After the same basic species of disease sweeps through a population a few thousand times pretty much everyone still surviving will have many disease-resistant genes.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    5. Re:What's odd is that by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Or because the disease was never harmful to bats to begin with. How many thousands of species of microbes are living harmlessly in your body right this minute? How many are actually helpful to your continued survival? You couldn't even digest food effectively without help, and that's only the most obvious and well-understood symbiosis. But in some other species one of those beneficial microbes might find an ecological niche just similar enough to let it survive, but lacking some factor that regulated the population, allowing for an out-of-control infection.

      It's not unlike rabbits devastating Australia: in the ecosystem they evolved in they are relatively harmless rodents that provide a ready food supply for many small and medium predators. Take them someplace new though, where nothing has engaged in their particular evolutionary arms race, and their uniqueness provided such a dramatic net advantage that they become an ecological scourge devastating the landscape.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    6. Re:What's odd is that by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      On the other hand he might be to old, never breed or if he does: does not pass his gene.

      Well, there's still the chance that he passed on the gene(s) to some of his offspring before before "getting too old." Plus, old letches think they're never too old.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    7. Re:What's odd is that by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      > b) catching the disease, surviving by good nutrition and other lucky cases, no influence on breeding

      Wealth and cultures that take good care of their most vulnerable members, or who've mastered effective rodent control, also "evolve". It's not genetic evolution, it's cultural evolution. But it's certainly as critical to survival and can also evolve, and should not be ignored when examining genetic evolution.

    8. Re:What's odd is that by doug141 · · Score: 1

      If you have an advantage that delays your death, but don't breed during the respite, then you are irrelevant to that aspect of evolution.

      Not if you helped your kids in that time.

    9. Re:What's odd is that by s0nicfreak · · Score: 1

      sex is typically a lifelong interest, and males remain fertile indefinitely

      Uh, you do know that before viagra, human males' penises stopped working when they got old, right?

    10. Re:What's odd is that by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Hey, an all or nothing thinker!

      If a factor, such as disease, affects the reproductive success of some organisms and not others, and that difference is due to heritable factors, the population will evolve (slowly change) to one that contains a greater proportion of the successful phenotype. Your (c) is sufficient. Nobody "suddenly became immune" but nobody suggested any such thing. There's considerable evidence that the population of Europe did become more resistant overall to bubonic and pneumonic plague over time.

    11. Re: What's odd is that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, no. Most elderly males have always had enough capability to father children. Viagra allows them to have sex more often and for longer periods. The number of completely impotent older men has always been very small.

    12. Re:What's odd is that by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      nothing wrong with being a letch.

    13. Re:What's odd is that by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      i take supplements so I don't have any external "bugs" either inside or out. you should try it!

    14. Re:What's odd is that by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Nope. Before Viagra, plenty of males procreated at advanced age. These days, it's just easier, and accessible to the otherwise impotent.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    15. Re:What's odd is that by Guy+Harris · · Score: 1

      In any case - as long as a disease don't have 100% lethality there will be survivors with better genes improving the genetic stock.

      Or, at least, improving its ability to work in an environment where the disease in question is sufficiently prevalent. If there's a cost to the allele that improves survival rates, then, if the disease isn't so common, maybe it's no longer an improvement. (Were we to reduce malaria incidence to the level of an extremely rare nuisance, people with sickle-cell anemia might not consider the sickle-cell trait their parents had an improvement.)

    16. Re:What's odd is that by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

      > a) don't catch the disease, we don't know if that was genetic or
      > luck, likely no influence on 'breeding'

      > The plague is under control because of much much better
      > sanitation, not because humans suddenly became 'immune' to it.

      European Jewish communities had lower infection rates for Black Death, Bubonic Plague, etc. Back then, society knew nothing about bacteria, viruses, or sanitation. Jews followed their religious laws regard washing of dishes before meals, and washing their hands before meals. Non-Jews didn't. The resulting lower Jewish death rate contributed to anti-semitism, claims of Jews being in league with the devil, and pogroms. Nowadays it's considered standard to wash your dishes and your hands.

      --

      I'm not repeating myself
      I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
    17. Re:What's odd is that by Immerman · · Score: 2

      The fact that you're able to type suggests otherwise. And unless you've been living in a hermeticaly sealed bubble consuming only sterilized food and water since birth your claim is ridiculous: microbes outmass all other life on Earth, and in your body they outnumber your own cells by roughly 10-to-1 (about 6 lbs worth in the average person)

      Meanwhile supplements have *nothing* to do with microbes - unless you're specifically taking active cultures/probiotics which add *additional* microbes to your gut. Or are taking immune boosters which may serve to very slightly reduce your microbial lode slightly at the expense of increasing free radical levels (yes, your immune system is carcinogenic)

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    18. Re:What's odd is that by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      European Jewish communities had lower infection rates for Black Death, Bubonic Plague, etc. Back then, society knew nothing about bacteria, viruses, or sanitation. Jews followed their religious laws regard washing of dishes before meals, and washing their hands before meals.

      And this is another example of evolution, albeit of the memetic rather than genetic variety. If you start with a bunch of crazy religions prohibiting random things then after a few generations the ones that prohibited things that were dangerous are going to be more likely to survive than the ones that prohibited things that were beneficial. The prohibition against pork and shellfish in Judaism is another good example. Pigs are sufficiently similar to humans that it's relatively easy for diseases to cross the species barrier, shellfish are very likely to cause illness if not properly stored and prepared. The societies that refuse to eat them are more likely to flourish, particularly in areas of the world where the climate is hot and water is relatively scarce.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    19. Re:What's odd is that by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      European Jewish communities had lower infection rates for Black Death, Bubonic Plague, etc. Back then, society knew nothing about bacteria, viruses, or sanitation.

      True except for the bold part.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    20. Re:What's odd is that by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      There's considerable evidence that the population of Europe did become more resistant overall to bubonic and pneumonic plague over time.

      There is no such evidence ... and under same circumstances in our days the death toll would be the same. However due to less rats and less flees and better sewerage and sanitation in general such an outbreak is unlikely.

      FTFY:
      If a factor, such as disease, affects the reproductive success of some organisms and not others, and IFthat difference is due to heritable factors, the population will evolve
      You missed that if. And as that IF does not exist, there is/was no evolution of mankind regarding such a short period of illnesses.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    21. Re:What's odd is that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no such evidence

      Yes, actually, there is.

      http://www.livescience.com/430...
      http://www.genome.gov/27556491

      under same circumstances in our days the death toll would be the same

      No, the existence of antibiotics would change the outcome dramatically.

      And as that IF does not exist,

      Your unsourced, un-cited assertions do not eliminate the data suggesting that some heritable resistance to Y pestis exists, or that the Black Plague outbreaks in the 1300's had noticeable effects on the genetic makeup of the population of Europe.

    22. Re:What's odd is that by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      The AC has given you a couple of good references. One of the associated papers is particularly good:

      http://www.pnas.org/content/11... - this is freely available from PNAS. They looked at genetic variations in European and Roma populations. The Roma are a genetically distinct group originating in India who migrated to Europe but have not mixed extensively with Europeans. The authors found several examples of apparent convergent evolution, including several immune modulating genes. Some of these turned out to provide resistance to Y. pestis and related infection.

      The evolution of completely new traits is generally believed to take many generations, but changes in the environment, particularly ones that kill 40% of the population, can very rapidly change the balance of existing traits in a population. Europeans and the Roma almost certainly didn't evolve protective genes from scratch in response to the plague, but it's quite plausible (and indicated by the evidence) that those genes evolved in response to a long history of Y. pestis and related infection (see the AC's second link) and were present in the general population. The particularly virulent strain that caused the black death certainly caused a shift in the population in favour of people who had the resistance genes simply because it killed more of the people who didn't have them. The data in the paper I linked (summarized in both the AC's links) suggests that shift was not only significant, but also persists to today.

    23. Re:What's odd is that by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      As you point out, those immunities / evolutions are due to long term exposure to the relevant diseases and not due to the relatively short periods of plagues.

      I was not aware that indeed some populations have now a genetic "resistance" however I originally only wanted to point out that such a resistance very unlikely evolves in a 30 years period (especially if you take into account reproduction cycles which limit such a period to max 3 generations)

      To bad I can not tread the full article. Thanx for the link, though. The abstract is already quite interesting.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    24. Re:What's odd is that by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Penises don't stop working ... other diseases prevent you perhaps.
      Main reson for those: lack of sports/fitness, to much alcohol, wrong nutrition, illnesses related to that like heart/blood, cancer (prostate etc.)

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    25. Re: What's odd is that by s0nicfreak · · Score: 2

      Well, I'm a little less worried about getting old, then.

    26. Re:What's odd is that by dywolf · · Score: 1

      a) luck is a factor
      b) nutrtition doesnt save you from plague
      c) so your logic is that "because some people maybe too old, the whole concept is invalid" ? nonsense

      Yes, sanitition is a big factor these days. As is knowing about the disease vectors, and when plague is found in a population, such as in rodents and otehr wildlife in areas of Northern California, warning people about it. Just the fact we know about it nowadays does a lot to make treatment easier.

      But sanitation wasnt the factor in the later waves of the plague in medieval europe. Nor was general knowledge of the disease.

      The reduction in severity was very likely genetics. It's been proven that it did alter the genetic stock of Europe. The "Black Death" didnt venture far outside of Europe, and the genetic markers are still prevalent in Europeans, and Europeans in general show some different reactions to certain related diseases than people of other genetic background. There is even some crossover resistance to HIV that is well documented, which roughly 10% of Europeans carry an addiitional resistance to.

      Bottom line is, you dont have a clue what you are talking about.
      Again.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    27. Re:What's odd is that by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      Check out Strong Spermin' ^H^H^H^H Strom Thurmond. He popped out 4 kids between the ages of 68 and 73.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    28. Re:What's odd is that by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      b) nutrtition doesnt save you from plague

      Of course it does. What is the likelihood surviving the plague if you are close to death by starvation versus being well fed?

      But sanitation wasnt the factor in the later waves of the plague in medieval europe.
      Of course it was.

      With proper sewerage and sanitation, the plague either had not happened at all or killed much less people.

      The "Black Death" didnt venture far outside of Europe, and the genetic markers are still prevalent in Europeans
      That is wrong in so far that the plack death came from outside Europe ... and was a long "companion" in other civilizations.

      There is even some crossover resistance to HIV that is well documented, which roughly 10% of Europeans carry an addiitional resistance to.

      Considering that world wide only 3 "resistant" persons are known this claim is outrageous :D

      Bottom line is, you dont have a clue what you are talking about.
      I would say: that is only true for you.

      But I give you a slight chance to wash you free from that accusion ;D The reduction in severity was very likely genetics. It's been proven that it did alter the genetic stock of Europe bring me a single link supporting this statement and I take back that you have no clue. If you bring a link for each of your statements I grant you: you have a point.

      For future reference: I would suggest you refrain from claiming that people have no clue. (Especially when every single statement you made in the last posts regarding this discussion: simply is wrong)

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  6. old news by ruir · · Score: 1

    The study may have been published now, but the patient zero has been identified 1 or 2 months ago. Journalism at its best.

    1. Re:old news by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      The title is badly worded (surprise, surprise). It should have read Bats May Be Source of Ebola Patient Zero's Infection, or something like that. The article and summary text both correctly makes that distinction.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    2. Re:old news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better slow than wrong.

    3. Re:old news by RDW · · Score: 2

      Previously, they just had a probable index case. They've now done a followup field study that confirms this case and identifies a hollow tree where the kids used to play as a possible source of the infection - it contained a bat colony at the time. They didn't find evidence that other wild animals were infected, suggesting transmission directly from the bats rather than from other bushmeat. The paper is very readable and not paywalled:

      http://embomolmed.embopress.or...

    4. Re:old news by rmdingler · · Score: 1
      I read about this on ScienceMag's website. The tree that was previously home to a large bat colony was burned before it could be studied, and the researchers identified the bat species by examining droppings. It was said to be a popular play place for village children.

      Though not referenced in that article, I can't help imagining a correlation was made from the large bat population (and guano) at Kitum Cave on Mt Elgin.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    5. Re:old news by RDW · · Score: 1

      I can't help imagining a correlation was made from the large bat population (and guano) at Kitum Cave on Mt Elgin.

      Yes, the EMBOMM article mentions this:

      "This [the hollow tree] may have resulted in massive exposure to bats and have created a situation similar to the one described for Marburg virus for which transmission from bats to humans has occurred in caves occupied by large bat colonies."

      (Kitum is one of the caves where Marburg, a virus from the same family as Ebola, has been transmitted).

  7. 2yr old... Guessing playing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Patient Zero, two-year-old Guinean Emile Ouamouno, may have been infected while hunting or playing with bats inside a hollow tree near his home"

    1. Re:2yr old... Guessing playing. by ruir · · Score: 1

      Or more probably eating them

    2. Re:2yr old... Guessing playing. by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Two year old eating bats. Right. He was probably hunting them too. With guns.

    3. Re:2yr old... Guessing playing. by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Two year old eating bats. Right. He was probably hunting them too. With guns.

      No, that's just in America.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    4. Re:2yr old... Guessing playing. by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Thanks for explaining the joke.

    5. Re:2yr old... Guessing playing. by Immerman · · Score: 1

      What is so unbelievable about the idea? If you've ever seen a two year old catch a reluctant cat you know that they can occasionally be crafty and/or lucky little beggars that actually catch their quarry: aka they manage to hunt successfully. And at two you *know* it's going to end up in their mouth (I suspect it's a *very* lucky bat that survives being caught by a two year old).

      After that it would just be a question of whether instinct and local customs are sufficient for them to recognize it as food. Considering that most cultures have a far shorter and less industrialized path between "recognizable animal" and "dinner" than in the US, it's not that much of a stretch. Especially if the bat were bleeding after being crushed - I'd bet that every meat-eating species on the planet recognizes that flavor instinctively.

      Of course there's no reason to assume there was any eating going on - getting bitten by a frightened bat would be more than sufficient to transfer the Ebola particles (as I recall it lives in their saliva), even just sicking a hand into a tree-hollow covered in fresh guano and drool might do the trick - if that hand doesn't have any scratches on it, it will be in their mouth soon enough anyway.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  8. Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by mentil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I imagine once word of this gets out to people in certain African nations infected by Ebola, it'll get distilled into "bats are threatening our survival" and lead to wholesale slaughter of bats. Something similar happened with cats mistakenly being associated with the Black Death. This will then lead to a surge in mosquito populations, which will then lead to a surge in malaria cases, which will likely kill more people than the Ebola outbreaks themselves.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by ruir · · Score: 1

      Oddly enough, when I was in mozambique after the end of the civil war, there was not any kind of animal in sight near cities except for bats. I guess they are not that tasty.

    2. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Or harder to hunt in relation to meat that can be sourced from them.

    3. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but ebola threatens THE WEST, and malaria only kills africans. Number of people doesn't impress persons that value human lives higher when they live in THE WEST.

    4. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Not true.The Angolan free-tailed bats that are suspect in this ground zero case are frequently eaten by locals.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    5. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      But not to extinction or near extinction, which is the point I'm making. Humans hunting animals to near extinction is a sum of animal being valuable (for it meat, bones, imaginary values like alternative medicine uses and so on) vs how easy it is to hunt the said animal.

    6. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Can you imagine? They would make mice look positively high-yield in comparison.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    7. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by supercrisp · · Score: 1

      You left out "or how scary/threatening it is," like bears, wolves, big cats, and so on. Of course habitat destruction "helps" a lot there too.

    8. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I imagine once word of this gets out to people in certain African nations infected by Ebola, it'll get distilled into "bats are threatening our survival" and lead to wholesale slaughter of bats. Something similar happened with cats mistakenly being associated with the Black Death. This will then lead to a surge in mosquito populations, which will then lead to a surge in malaria cases, which will likely kill more people than the Ebola outbreaks themselves.

      Ha ha ha ha!! The shit you fucking people come up with, man!! Wow, that was funny!! I hope this gets turned into a new meme!!

    9. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      bats have been known for over a decade to be the carriers of ebola. exterminating bats not a problem, plenty of other creatures eat misquitoes and there is treatment for malaria besides the natural immunity present in the humans there. bring the slaughter on, those filthy creatures carry many other harmful diseases.

    10. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      That's mainly because the scary ones compete with man for hunting the ones with more eatibility. Though bears don't compete with humans, but are heavily hunted.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    11. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's simple: We kill the bats, man.

    12. Re:Great. Bat Genocide Incoming by dywolf · · Score: 1

      or you just innoculate bats against the disease.
      similar programs have been very successful in the past.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
  9. Re:Bats? by Luckyo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are you suggesting that other races rather die of hunger than eat animals?

    Must be a weird vegan community you were raised in.

  10. Re:Bats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Are you suggesting "African" is a race?

  11. Re:Bats? by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    Well trolled.

  12. How to contain Ebola .. by lippydude · · Score: 2

    No mention of the indigenous burial rites in the region as being the root cause of the spread of Ebola. Too save you from all that reading: don't cook-and-eat with same household items that you cleaned a dead ebola patent with .. ref

    1. Re:How to contain Ebola .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wannabe resident expert lippydouche spews more crap. Stop trying to play smart punk. You're not convincing.

  13. curse that batboy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    But that confirms he's real!

    http://www.alexxcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/bat-boy-WWN.jpeg

  14. What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ebola has been around for decades. Patient zero means the first case of it. If he died in 2013 at age 2, that means "patient zero" was even born when some ebola cases were around. Wtf? Can someone explain this?

    1. Re:What? by RogueyWon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It means "patient zero for this outbreak". Unlike some diseases, Ebola doesn't have a constant presence in the human species. Most of the time, there are no humans on the planet infected with Ebola (compare and contrast with the common cold, which exists in an endemic steady state among humans).

      Ebola outbreaks begin when a human is exposed to the disease from a non-human source (bats have been suspected for decades, but it was tricky to pin down). So "patient zero" for an Ebola outbreak is the human who is the first to be infected (and who then goes on to infect others).

      One of the big questions about Ebola outbreaks is why there aren't more of them. If bats are the carriers, then given how widespread bats are across Africa, why do outbreaks so isolated? Tracking down the patient zero for each outbreak is crucial if we're going to understand that (and understanding it could be the key to preventing future outbreaks).

  15. I told him... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    ...that we couldn't stop there!

  16. BAT COUNTRY! by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 2

    Well, I told them not to stop there...but I knew the poor bastards would see them soon enough themselves. This is Ebola Bat Country!

    1. Re:BAT COUNTRY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Came here for this comment. Was not dissapoint.

  17. I just hope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just hope this doesn't result in a bunch of anti bat hysteria.

  18. Weekly World News by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    WTF. Don't tell me that old Weekly World News article about batboy turns out to be true.

  19. A boy was bitten by a bat? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    Is his name Robin, by any chance?

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    1. Re:A boy was bitten by a bat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like the implication that Batman got that way when he was bitten by a radioactive bat...

      Oh, did you hear? Opus caught rickets from cats!

  20. Two year olds can barely stand up on their own. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Two-year-old Guinean hunting AND playing with bats inside a hollow tree??? Preposterous! Otherwise this kid might become the most able toddler known to the world.

    1. Re:Two year olds can barely stand up on their own. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They can still play with shit.

    2. Re:Two year olds can barely stand up on their own. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Haven't been to Africa hey? They two year olds are more than capable of running around free, finding cool places like bat colonies, stalking and attempting to catch (maybe even succeeding) small insects and animals, and picking up dead ones off the ground. The ones in North America used to be that capable as well, but now they seem to mostly ride around in strollers.

      In Africa they're even quite good at fleecing tourists.

    3. Re:Two year olds can barely stand up on their own. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clearly somebody who's never reproduced, or been around children. A two year old is perfectly capable of walking, running, and climbing, though obviously they probably don't have the strength and endurance to climb 50 feet up a tree.

      But walk / crawl into a hollow tree and poke around with the bat shit, dead bats, and odd slow/sick bat that's within reach? Sure, that's completely reasonable.

      If you have a 2 year old who can't stand up on his or her own, then I suggest you bring them to a doctor for evaluation, as something is almost certainly wrong with them, developmentally.

  21. Re: Bats? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Funny

    Must be a weird vegan community you were raised in.

    It's a matter of principle. They were only eating fruit bats.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  22. Re:Bats? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    Are you suggesting that other races rather die of hunger than eat animals?

    Must be a weird vegan community you were raised in.

    Or PETA.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  23. A similar even happened in Queensland Australia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-22/queensland-boy-dies-of-lyssavirus/4535496

    Different virus, just as deadly, or more so, but the symptoms are different as this result in far lower rates of transmission.

    The original people of the region, not the current indigenous population, but the pygmies of the rainforests, https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/history-wars/2002/06/the-extinction-of-the-australian-pygmies/ may have had a genetic resistance to the virus, but they seem to have gone extinct in part because they were not resistant diseases from Europe.

  24. and by "infected"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We mean he had sex with them.

  25. speciesist! by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    The bat, presumably, is -1?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  26. bushmeat by alexbiorecovery · · Score: 1

    Wasn't this already known? Or is this a more detailed analysis of how ebola was initially transferred to humans. Either way I feel educating people in affected countries to stop eating specific types of bushmeat is just as important as research a cure. If they're educated enough to avoid infected bast than we're all better off, no?

  27. Outlaw Bats! by FreedomFirstThenPeac · · Score: 1

    Outlaw bats and only criminals will have bats!

    What? Not the wooden kind but rather the furry kind?

    Nevermind.

    --
    "There is no god but allah" - well, they got it half right.