Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Health

Ebola heads for last great apes

8 November 2006

YET more evidence is in that the Ebola virus is spreading in a wave across Africa – putting the world’s last big populations of lowland gorillas directly in its path.

In 2003, an outbreak of Ebola struck gorillas living in the Congo. Bats in the area at that time were also carrying the virus, researchers recently discovered (Âé¶¹´«Ã½, 3 December 2005, p 20). That meant either the virus had always been lurking in bats, and spread to the gorillas, or that the bats were newly infected as the epidemic crossed their territory.

Now researchers have found that the bat…

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