Author Topic: Ebola's Deadly Jump From Animal to Animal  (Read 470 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline flowers

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,798
Ebola's Deadly Jump From Animal to Animal
« on: July 31, 2014, 05:20:57 pm »
http://news.discovery.com/animals/ebolas-deadly-jump-from-animal-to-animal-140730.htm

Quote
Ebola may be present in more animals than previously thought, according to researchers studying the deadly virus, which has already been detected in chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, antelopes, porcupines, rodents, dogs, pigs and humans.

Humans and other primates appear to be particularly susceptible to at least certain strains of the virus. During the present outbreak ravaging Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ebola has killed 670 people so far and infected more than 1,000.

"The close evolutionary relationship between humans, chimpanzees and gorillas makes their immune systems very similar," Peter Walsh, a primate expert at the University of Cambridge, told Discovery News.