DAKAR (Reuters) - Scientists in Sierra Leone have found live bats infected with Marburg virus, a deadly hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola and so far undetected in West Africa, a U.S. government statement said on Thursday. In a statement on Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said five Egyptian rousette fruit bats caught in Sierra Leone tested positive for the Marburg virus. No human cases of the fever have so far been reported, although the presence of infected bats — who do not show obvious signs of the disease — increases the risk of contracting the virus. The African fruit bat is the reservoir host of the virus, which has caused at least 12 outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever on the continent. “We have known for a long time that rousette bats, which carry Marburg virus in other parts of Africa, also live in West Africa. For a country like Sierra Leone that was devastated by Ebola, “this finding of a very dangerous pathogen on a par with Ebola can put them ahead of the game, they can take proactive steps” to warn communities about its hazards, said Jonathan Towner, a CDC ecologist who led the CDC team. Angola suffered the worst epidemic in 2005, when 90 percent of the 252 people infected in the southern African country died. There’s a large cave full of fruit bats in Uganda where people, including tourists, have caught Marburg.
U.S. researchers say that the Marburg virus has been found for the first time in West African bats, notably in Egyptian rousette fruit bats in Sierra Leone. Marburg is a "cousin" of the Ebola virus disease, which too may be spread by bats.