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Every Newly Emerging Disease Like Ebola Begins With a Mystery
One crucial factor in the epidemic spread of Ebola is poverty, says author of a new book about the disease.
Talking from his home in Montana, Quammen, author of Ebola: The Natural and Human History, describes how he first encountered the story of the disease over a campfire in Gabon; how sorcery and science are often at loggerheads in West Africa; and why we should try to imagine ourselves confronting the dire poverty that many Africans face.....
.....There are a couple of mysteries. The main one is: Where does it live when it's not killing humans? In other words, what is its reservoir host? ...
But after 38 years since the first outbreak, scientists have yet to identify for certain what the reservoir host of Ebola is. It is suspected that at least one of its reservoir hosts is a fruit bat. Antibodies to Ebola have been found, but no one has ever isolated live Ebola virus from a fruit bat or from any other creature. So we still don't know where this thing lives. And until we do, we can't foresee or forestall further outbreaks.....
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One crucial factor in the epidemic spread of Ebola is poverty, says author of a new book about the disease.
Talking from his home in Montana, Quammen, author of Ebola: The Natural and Human History, describes how he first encountered the story of the disease over a campfire in Gabon; how sorcery and science are often at loggerheads in West Africa; and why we should try to imagine ourselves confronting the dire poverty that many Africans face.....
.....There are a couple of mysteries. The main one is: Where does it live when it's not killing humans? In other words, what is its reservoir host? ...
But after 38 years since the first outbreak, scientists have yet to identify for certain what the reservoir host of Ebola is. It is suspected that at least one of its reservoir hosts is a fruit bat. Antibodies to Ebola have been found, but no one has ever isolated live Ebola virus from a fruit bat or from any other creature. So we still don't know where this thing lives. And until we do, we can't foresee or forestall further outbreaks.....
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