Ebola Clue Lurks in 10 Million Zambian Bats

By Matthew Hill Jan 12, 2015 10:27 AM CT

At 4:50 a.m. at the Kasanka National Park in northern Zambia, tourists watch from a platform in a tree as the sound of millions of wings accompanies the sunrise. About 10 million straw-colored fruit bats are returning from a night of feeding, some flying as far as 100 kilometers (62 miles) to feast on berries and figs. The animals may hold a clue to finding the cure for the Ebola disease that’s killed more than 8,000 people in west Africa in the biggest-ever outbreak, according to Aaron Mweene, professor at the University of Zambia’s veterinary medicine school. That outbreak, which is yet to be quelled, has been blamed on bats.

Researchers including scientists from Japan’s Hokkaido University did a study that found a high prevalence of Ebola antibodies in the creatures that undertake the world’s second-largest mammal migration from the Democratic Republic of Congo to roost in Zambia, Mweene said. That indicates that they come into contact with the virus and are able to cure themselves. “The antibodies have been found in about 10 percent of the animals; it’s a significant part of the total,” Frank Willems, ecologist at Kasanka, said in an interview in the park. “It might well be that specifically this species will form the clue to actually finding the cure for Ebola.”

The bats migrate each year to roost in an evergreen Marsh Fig forest in Kasanka, 390 kilometers northeast of Lusaka, the capital. They arrive from October and stay until December, roosting in an area as small as a hectare (2.47 acres). During the day the average density in the forest is as much as 1,000 bats per square meter (11 square feet) as the bats, which have an 80-centimeter (31-inch) wingspan, seek protection in numbers from the raptors that eat them.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-11/ebola-clue-may-lurk-in-10-million-bats-in-zambian-fig-trees.html