A YOUNG BOY EBOLA STORY:..VERY SUPRISING.

The Ebola victim who is believed to have
triggered the current outbreak - a two-year-
old boy called Emile Ouamouno from Guinea -
may have been infected by playing in a hollow
tree housing a colony of bats, say scientists.
They made the connection on an expedition to
the boy's village, Meliandou.
They took samples and chatted to locals to find
out more about Ebola's source.
The team's findings are published in EMBO
Molecular Medicine.
Ebola trail
Meliandou is a small village of 31 houses.
It sits deep within the Guinean forest region,
surrounded by towering reeds and oil palm
cultivations - these are believed to have
attracted the fruit bats carrying the virus
passed on to Emile.
During their four-week field trip in April 2014,
Dr Fabian Leendertz and colleagues found a
large tree stump situated about 50m from
Emile's home.
Villagers reported that children used to play
frequently in the hollow tree.
Emile - who died of Ebola in December 2013 -
used to play there, according to his friends.
The villagers said that the tree burned on March
24, 2014 and that once the tree caught fire,
there issued a "rain of bats".
A large number of these insectivorous free-
tailed bats - Mops condylurus in Latin - were
collected by the villagers for food, but disposed
of the next day after a government-led ban on
bushmeat consumption was announced.
While bushmeat is thought to be a possible source
of Ebola, the scientists believe it didn't trigger
the outbreak.
Instead, it was Emile's exposure to the bats and
their droppings as he played with his friends in
the hollowed tree.
Pest control
The scientists took and tested ash samples from
the tree and found DNA traces that were a
match for the animals.
While they were unable to test any of the
bushmeat that the villagers had disposed of,
they captured and tested any living bats they
could find in and around Meliandou.
No Ebola could be detected in any of these
hundred or so animals, however.
But previous tests show this species of bat can
carry Ebola.
Dr Leendertz, from the Robert Koch Institute in
Germany, and his colleagues say this must be a
pretty rare occurrence though.
Dr Leendertz said: "That is also obvious when
you think about how many tonnes of bat meat is
consumed every year.
"If more bats carried the virus, we would see
outbreaks all the time."
He says it is vital to find out more about the
bats.
"They have moved into human settlements. They
do not just live in the trees but also under the
roofs of houses in the villages.
"The Ebola virus must jump through colonies
from bat to bat, so we need to know more."
But culling the animals is not the answer.
"We need to find ways to live together with the
wildlife. These bats catch insects and pests, such
as mosquitoes. They can eat about a quarter of
their body weight in insects a day.
"Killing them would not be a solution. You would
have more malaria."
Source: BBC