( ions between Gabon and the Republic of ...)Ebola virus: from wildlife to dogs

ions between Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Human infection appears to occur only in a secondary way, through contact with carcasses of dead animals (2). However, the virus's natural cycle is not restricted just to transmission from the reservoir to the non-human primate and then to humans. It is quite possible that several reservoir species co-existent and that many other animal species can become infected, thus contributing to propagation of the virus in nature.

A serological investigation conducted from 1980 to 2000 on 790 nonhuman primates from Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of Congo, belonging to 20 different species, hence revealed that 12.9 % of wild chimpanzees carry Ebola virus antibodies, several of the positive samples dating from before the first epidemics in these countries. These results therefore indicate that chimpanzees are regularly in contact with the animal virus reservoir and that some of them develop non-fatal infections. The presence of specific antibodies in the animals taken before the epidemics means that the Ebola virus has probably been circulating for a long time in Central African forests. The detection of such antibodies in other primate species (including 5 drills, 1 baboon and 1 mandrill) suggests that circulation of the virus involved many contamination events between distinct animal species. Thus, the multiplicity of infected species, their different susceptibilities to the virus and the great differences in their ways of life, are indicators of the complexity of Ebola virus's circulation in its natural environment. These observations also show that an epidemic or sporadic cases can appear at any moment in the sub-region of Central Africa as a whole.

Moreover, during the latest epidemics in Gabon and the Republic of Congo, there were many cases where dogs had eaten remains of dead animals infected with the virus, nonetheless without showing visible clinical signs. In order to confirm that these dogs had indeed c
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Source:Institut de Recherche Pour le D茅veloppement

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