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Deadly Ebola Virus Is Found in Liberian Bat, Researchers Say (nytimes.com)
Long a suspected source of the virus, bats had not been confirmed as carriers of the lethal disease before. The discovery could help scientists learn more about how the virus infects humans. From a report: For the first time, the type of deadly Ebola virus responsible for recent epidemics in West and Central Africa has been found in a bat, Liberian health officials announced on Thursday. Scientists have long suspected that bats were a natural host of Ebola and a source of some human infections, but until now they had not found any bats that harbored the epidemic species, known as Zaire ebolavirus. Although the bat was found in Liberia, the country has not had any human cases of Ebola since 2016, and the bat was not associated with any illness in people. The finding is preliminary and not yet ready for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, the usual venue for presenting scientific discoveries. Only 20 percent of the bat's genome has been studied, and research on it is continuing.
But because of its potential impact on public health, officials in Liberia wanted to share the information widely as soon as possible. "It's an incomplete study, a work in progress," said Simon J. Anthony, a virologist at Columbia University who has performed genetic analyses on samples from the infected bat. "It feels premature scientifically, but on the other hand, you have the public health aspect. We do have enough data to suggest to me that it is Ebola Zaire in this bat. We agree with our Liberian government partners that this information should be shared." Knowing which types of bat carry Ebola may help health officials prevent outbreaks by educating the public about how to prevent contact with the creatures, scientists said.
But because of its potential impact on public health, officials in Liberia wanted to share the information widely as soon as possible. "It's an incomplete study, a work in progress," said Simon J. Anthony, a virologist at Columbia University who has performed genetic analyses on samples from the infected bat. "It feels premature scientifically, but on the other hand, you have the public health aspect. We do have enough data to suggest to me that it is Ebola Zaire in this bat. We agree with our Liberian government partners that this information should be shared." Knowing which types of bat carry Ebola may help health officials prevent outbreaks by educating the public about how to prevent contact with the creatures, scientists said.
Should one rather say that humans are a source of Ebola infections in bats?
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
"Deadly ebola virus is found in Libertarian bat"?
Nice
People in many parts of the world eat bats, and may be infected while catching or preparing them for cooking. Hunters and cooks may not be able to tell one bat species from another.
In other words if the bats - and it should be stressed that only one tested positive out of five thousand tested bats - are a meaningful vector for Ebola, the best thing to do to prevent further infection would be to leave them alone.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
What the heck is a Librarian Bat? I know about book worms of course. But does this Librarian Bat chase you down if your book is overdue? Or is it like a baseball bat and the Librarian uses it to enforce silence? Maybe it is a new type of drone that flies around the 'stacks' returning books to their proper location?
No longer the century of the Fruitbat.
Safe to say Africa's Ebola problems would be solved if they would stop eating bushmeat and doing weird witchcraft stuff to bodies after death.
The weird witchcraft stuff also extends to AIDS.
Might be the source for the cure.
Either the bat has an attenuated virus or it has a defense.
Either way this might be the good news
Bats live in large communal colonies and cover very large areas during their daily (or nightly) forage. They also have a very high metabolism, reproduce very quickly and don't live an extraordinarily long amount of time. So if a disease run rampant through a colony, there is a good chance that a portion of the colony will develop immunity to the disease and rebound in a few generations. So ebola may have been contracted at some point in their near or distant past, and the bats that survived that outbreak adapted.
Humans...not so much. Give us a few generations (it takes longer for humans to reproduce) and maybe.
Best advice: don't interact with bats...more importantly, never put bats (in general) on the menu.
You'd probably be safer licking random petri dishes.
You left out the part about the dried lube.
Problem solved. Once Liberian bats are outlawed the problem goes away.
My brain parsed the title as "... is found in libertarians, researchers say".
Just in case anyone needs reminding of 2 aspects of the recent Ebola epidemic, at the time of the outbreak:
That pretty much amounts to a recipe for an epidemic. The people who suffered as a result? Liberians & anyone who tried to help them.
So who wants to blame farmers, labourers, & their families for the outbreak or make jokes at their expense? C'mon /., I know you can do it!
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
I read this headline as "Libertarian rat" at first blush.
Thought someone would get a chuckle out of that.
A lone bushman eating traditional bushmeat can actually threaten the lives of billions.