All posts tagged: Bats

People keep trespassing near cave filled with bats infected by Ebola’s cousin

People keep trespassing near cave filled with bats infected by Ebola’s cousin

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. You do not want to contract Marburg virus disease (MVD). Formerly known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, it belongs to the same family as Ebola and displays many of the same fatal symptoms including massive internal bleeding and organ failure.  Luckily, epidemiologists have long worked to identify and monitor locations designated as known Marburg virus reservoirs.These include places like Python Cave inside Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. But according to a startling report published in the journal Current Biology this week, visitors to the scenic ecological reserve have routinely ignored clear warnings to stay far away from the caverns. After almost 9,000 hours of recorded activity, authors tallied over 200 human incursions into Python Cave, including international tourists and school children. While no reported cases were tied to these instances, the study’s authors warn that future contact could put visitors (and untold others) at risk of contracting the nightmarish virus. Cases of Marburg virus disease are thankfully rare, but they …

Health experts scramble to contain outbreak of deadly Nipah virus

Health experts scramble to contain outbreak of deadly Nipah virus

India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a nationwide alert, urging states to strengthen surveillance, detection, and preventive measures to reduce risk and prevent any further spread. India has faced sporadic outbreaks of Nipah in recent years. The virus lives in bats and can be passed to humans through contaminated food or by contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals. It can also jump from bats to pigs, opening up another route for onward transmission to people, where it spreads from person to person through droplets and saliva. The virus has a fatality rate of up to 75 per cent and causes a range of symptoms, beginning with a fever, vomiting and fatigue before developing into respiratory issues and swelling of the brain. Neurological issues like encephalitis can appear months or years after an initial infection In response to the new cases, several Indian states have directed their health authorities to strengthen surveillance for Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a broad term for brain inflammation that can be caused by Nipah infection. “Persons admitted …