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Ebola the natural and human history5/27/2023 In this article I review some of the bat borne zoonotic viruses that have made the headlines in recent years.Įbola, a filovirus,is the most serious of these recently emerged zoonotic viruses, in terms of human mortality. Our ability to identify the causes of such disease has also increased. Outbreaks of such zoonotic diseases have increased in recent decades often as a result of bushmeat consumption as well as human encroachment into natural habitats involving deforestation and agricultural intensification. ‘Spillovers’ from bats to people either occur directly, through contact with infected bats or indirectly through intermediate hosts such as domestic animals or wildlife that have been contaminated by blood, saliva, urine or faeces of bats. These viruses often don’t seem to harm the bats that carry them, which points to a long history of co-evolution. However, bats world-wide harbour a greater proportion of viruses than several other groups of mammals. In the UK we have a single zoonotic disease associated with our native bat species (caused by a rabies virus, European Bat Lyssavirus - EBLV - and found only in our Daubenton’s bat population). Zoonoses are human diseases of animal origin. The section on Ebola was updated in 2018.) (This article first appeared in Bat News Issue 109, Spring 2016. Paul Racey provides the facts about some of the bat borne zoonotic viruses from around the world that have made the headlines in the UK press in recent years.
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