Boy playing near infected bats cause of Ebola outbreak in Africa

London : A young boy playing near a colony of virus-infected bats may have precipitated the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, scientists said Tuesday. The two-year-old boy – described as the index case, or “patient zero” – became infected and was the first to die in the village of Meliandou in Guinea, the Daily Mail reported, according to IANS. Before his death, he had been near a tree harbouring free-tailed bats, according to reports. Subsequently, the Ebola virus spread to other areas of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal. Fruit bats are the commonly suspected carriers of the Ebola virus and have been linked to previous outbreaks in Africa. Researchers from the Robert Koch-Institute in Berlin were part of a team, which took part in a four-week field mission in Guinea.