Experts: Bats not spreading Ebola virus

NAIROBI, KENYA: A conservation agency has moved in to allay fears that bats are spreading Ebola and Marburg viruses, which have led to the deaths of over 4,000 people mainly in West Africa.

Though admitting bats are known reservoirs of a host of viral infections including Ebola, Marburg and Shimoni, Bats Conservation Africa (BCA) has said the mammals are unlikely to spread the dreaded disease.

This come in the wake of reports that bats in some of the affected West African countries were responsible for the Ebola spread.

According to BCA chairman Paul Webala, there were no documented Ebola outbreaks caused by bats. Mr Webala said the current Ebola outbreak was spreading within the human populations, adding no known case had been traced to contact with a bat.

"There are nearly 300 bat species in Africa, making up 20 per cent of African mammalian diversity," said the researcher.

CULL ANIMALS

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He said the nature of many associations, whether as reservoir, vector or accidental host, remained poorly understood.

"The role of bats as reservoirs of Ebola in equatorial Africa has yet to be confirmed while the wildlife source of the current outbreak in West Africa is still unknown," he said.

Webala, also a lecturer at Karatina University, expressed concern about a move to cull bats in residential areas for fears they would transmit the disease, terming this short-sighted.

The lecturer noted that bats played many roles in the ecosystem including pollination, seed dispersal and insect reduction. He said these roles provided invaluable services to people.

"Previous eviction and culling attempts in response to disease outbreaks have backfired and actually increased transmission of rabies like in Australia," he said, however admitting bats can carry diseases transmissible to humans, and pointed out rabies.