Friday, February 20, 2015

Ongoing Ebola Outbreak Traced to Hollow Tree

Brought to you by Ayden


The first victim in the current Ebola outbreak had played in this hollow tree. It has since burned down. Scientists say the tree used to host insect-eating bats that could have carried the Ebola virus.
FABIAN LEENDERTZ

12 comments:

Grace said...

Wow. This is sad but extremely interesting. It's interesting how science has gotten so big that out of 21,000 people who got Ebola, they can trace it back to ONE tree, ONE boy, and ONE village. I liked this article because it was very informative, and it reminded me never to eat fruit bats :). It would have probably been a lot easier to find out if their hypothesis was true about the tree if it hadn't burned down. This article WAS cool though, and I liked what was said. It was also really easy to understand and a really interesting topic because it is a really big and bad current event that's happening. I liked it because of the tons of information. I also didn't realize that the Ebola outbreak started December 2013. I had only heard about it sometime around last Halloween. But it has definitely evolved into practically a worldwide crisis at this point. Especially in Africa. I didn't know what Ebola was for a while but this article makes it a lot clearer. I would really like to learn more about this topic and others, and maybe someone can find a cure for Ebola, at least a more efficient one, someday and then we can put all this disease chaos behind us and live a normal life. I liked this article for many reasons and I hope there will be new articles like this on the Internet and on our blog to see how Ebola will either evolve( I hope not) or die down( I hope SO) So let's see, will people find a cure, or keep eating those little infected fruit bats??!!

Paisley said...

I think this article really helped the scientists studying Ebola truly understand where it came from. It was sad that the little boy, Emile, may have gotten sick and thus died from just playing in a tree. Personally, I think that maybe the reason he got Ebola without having eaten the bat is if there was some kind of sap on his hands and he did not wash them and then touched his face. It was also really interesting about how the African people often eat bush meats, and how fruit bats may be one of them. If they hadn't eaten bat meat, would more people still be alive?

Owen said...

Although scientists think that fruit bats might carry the Ebola virus, in this case, there were no fruit bats in the village where the boy, Emile, lived. The scientists think that insect-eating bats are to blame for this initial infection of Emile. I didn't realize that scientists could trace a disease back to a single person and to a single tree. It's not like finding a needle in a haystack but more like a fish in the ocean. Hopefully with this new information about the most recent Ebola outbreak, future outbreaks can be prevented through changing people's habit and avoiding contact with animals that are potential carriers of the virus.

Jason G. said...

This was the most informative article ever. All this time, doctors flying to West Africa, Libya, and all other kinds of the world to help the poor and unfortunate, and to investigate. Many people think that the Ebola Outbreak is no big deal... trust me I know. These days, barely anyone even watches the news. I think that this may be one of the most dangerous things in the world. By the way, can you spot a face in the picture of the hollow tree. I can. Comment below and see if you can find it. Anyway, this is fascinating. Fruit bats. Well, to get back on track, there is proof of this boy. But what does it mean necessarily, they used to play in a tree? Does that mean they used to play inside the trunk of the tree? Whoo, that's gross.

Julianna said...

Almost half of 21,000 people died, from Ebola, in West Africa. It may have started in a hollow tree used to host insect-eating bats, who could have carried the Ebola virus. For example, a boy would play with his friends in a tree near his house. Unfortunately, that tree was also a home to insect-eating bat who carried Ebola. So sad. Leendertz and his team wanted to do some research on the source animal, or reservoir, of the virus. They traveled to the boy's village, but when they arrived the tree got burned down. Their bats were also gone. The research could've gave a lot of information, and could've helped a lot. Hopefully, Ebola doesn't bring chaos to L.A., but what would be great is if Ebola completely vanished.

B said...

This was an extremely interesting article, because from the over 21,000 people that were infected, the scientists could trace it back to one boy, one tree, and one type of insect eating bat. Unfortunately, when they got to Emile's village, (Emile is quite possibly the outbreak's 1st victim,) the tree was burned down and the bats were gone. I can't believe that they knew it was from that tree, even though it was burned down. I hope the African people stop eating fruit bats because of this! If they do stop ;), but if they don't :(

Brandon D. said...

Sorry I meant Brandon D.

Ben said...

This article was very interesting. It was amazing how epidemiologists were able to trace the possible (no one knows for sure yet) origins of Ebola, an extremely deadly disease. There has been no cure discovered for Ebola; scientists have tried to inoculate it but it has not stopped the Ebola virus. But this discovery might change the world because the knowledge of an origin of Ebola could lead to its stopping, for you could go out and stop the reproduction of the bats by killing some of them, and it could reduce and possibly stop the spread of the lethal Ebola virus.

Jaime said...

I think this article is very informative. I had no idea that about 21,000 people have been infected with Ebola in West Africa, and 8,400 have died. Emile Ouamouno is two years old, he had a serious case of Ebola, and he died from it. The scientist thought that it was coming from a near hollow tree, that Emile and his friends would play in, or they thought it could have come from the bats living in there. Another hypothesis, was that the people in his town could have been eating fruit that had in any way be related to the bat. Or just been eating fruit bats that were infected. But, the scientist could not find out for sure, because the tree had been burned down, and the bats were gone.

Natalie said...

Thanks to Ayden to bringing this article to us. This was very interesting along with scary. One person starts it, and suddenly the whole world starts to crumble. Just playing in the tree, so innocent, but then suddenly it starts. Now I know not to play in hollow trees, because some Ebola-starting bats may be in there.

Kendall said...

I wonder what gives fruit bats the illness. I also find it very interesting that animal to human illnesses kill over 2.2 million people a year, but on some of them, we are yet to understand why the ANIMALS get the illnesses from. 27 out of the listed 50 deceases were not because the animal was sick, but a tick bit you. Or a rat gave you the plague... very very very few are transmitted from animal to human when the animal is actually suffering from it.

Brandon Y. said...

I really wonder if this tree is actually the main origin of the Ebola outbreak. I think that there is more to it and that more is to be found. There might be multiple areas where the outbreak started. I also wonder how the fruit bats, monkeys, or other bush meat got the virus. Here are some links:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26835233

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/page/ebola-spotlight