科學家發現埃博拉疫情源頭：蝙蝠叮咬2歲男孩

據英國《每日郵報》報道，一個由多國科學家組成的研究團隊宣稱找到此次埃博拉病毒大爆發的源頭：一名2歲男孩被感染該病毒的果蝠叮咬。

研究人員認爲，一名2歲小男孩被感染了埃博拉病毒的果蝠叮咬，隨後他又將病毒傳給母親，母子二人都在一週內死亡。此後，埃博拉病毒隨着前來參加葬禮的人越傳越遠，疫情範圍越來越大。很早以前，科學家們就已經發現，蝙蝠是埃博拉病毒的主要攜帶源，但很少傳染給人。

此前，埃博拉病毒爆發多是因爲獵人撿到感染病毒動物的肉，並將其賣掉引發的。而在西非鄉村地區，果蝠是一種常見食物，經常被燻烤或做湯吃掉。

但科學家們稱，他們還沒有百分之百的證據，只能說果蝠是導致此次埃博拉病毒大爆發的可能原因。如果蝙蝠理論獲得證實，當地人可能會試圖消滅這種動物，這將造成“生態災難”，因爲蝙蝠能給作物授粉和消滅害蟲。

The largest outbreak of the deadly disease Ebola was caused by an infected bat biting a toddler, say a group of international researchers.

The 17-strong team of European and African tropical disease researchers, ecologists and anthropologists have spent three weeks investigating the outbreak of the disease in Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

The researchers captured the bats and other creatures near the village of Meliandoua in remote eastern Guinea, where the present epidemic began in December 2013.

The boy was bitten and passed the infection on to his mother and both were dead within a week. The disease was then spread far and wide by mourners who came to the funeral.

Scientists have long believed that bats are the main carriers for the disease but it is rare for them to pass it on to man.

Most of the previous outbreaks have been caused by meat from dead infected animals collected by hunters who then sell it on.

Fruit bats, however, are widely eaten in rural west Africa – either smoked, grilled or in a spicy soup.

The team lead by epidemiologist Fabian Leendertz, a disease ecologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, are expected to publish their results in a major journal soon.

Initial research believed that a new strain of Ebola had emerged in west Africa but according to Herr Leendertz the strain of the disease is one related to as Zaire ebolavirus, identified more than 10 years ago in the Congo.

Herr Leendertz’s team believe that an infected straw-coloured fruit bat brought the disease to Guinea. The mammals are known to travel long distances and usually settle in forests near cities.

More than 1,300 people have died in the current epidemic many in Liberia.

Herr Leendertz said: "We spent eight days in Meliandoua. They told us they regularly catch bats, like every other village in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The evidence is not 100 percent and we can only say that it is possible.

‘They can travel far in one night. I don't think an individual bat or colony migrated all the way from Congo or Gabon to west Africa. These big colonies are connected. There is a possibility for the virus to mix between colonies. [The bats] share the same fruit. It is likely not to have even been one species of bat. The virus may jump from one species to another."

If the bat theory confirmed, locals would try to destroy the colonies which says Herr Leendertz ‘would be an ecological disaster because bats pollinate plants and devour insects. And bat hunts would also only increase human contact with potentially infected animals."