Ebola

===Reservoir===
The [[natural reservoir]] for Ebola has yet to be confirmed; however, [[bat]]s are considered to be the most likely candidate.<ref name="Chowell2014">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Chowell G, Nishiura H |date=October 2014 |title=Transmission dynamics and control of Ebola virus disease (EVD): a review |journal=BMC Med |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=196 |doi=10.1186/s12916-014-0196-0 |pmc=4207625 |pmid=25300956 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Three types of fruit bats (''[[Hypsignathus monstrosus]]'', ''[[Epomops franqueti]]'' and ''[[Myonycteris torquata]]'') were found to possibly carry the virus without getting sick.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Laupland KB, Valiquette L |date=May 2014 |title=Ebola virus disease |journal=Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=128–129 |doi=10.1155/2014/527378 |pmc=4173971 |pmid=25285105 |doi-access=free}}</ref> {{As of|2013}}, whether other animals are involved in its spread is not known.<ref name="Weingartl_2013" /> Plants, [[arthropod]]s, [[rodent]]s, and birds have also been considered possible viral reservoirs.<ref name=WHO2014/><ref name="Sharma2015" />

Bats were known to roost in the cotton factory in which the [[index case|first case]]s of the 1976 and 1979 outbreaks were observed, and they have also been implicated in Marburg virus infections in 1975 and 1980.<ref name="Pourrut2005" /> Of 24&nbsp;plant and 19&nbsp;vertebrate species experimentally inoculated with EBOV, only bats became infected.<ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Swanepoel R, Leman PA, Burt FJ, Zachariades NA, Braack LE, Ksiazek TG, Rollin PE, Zaki SR, Peters CJ |date=October 1996 |title=Experimental inoculation of plants and animals with Ebola virus |journal=Emerg. Infect. Dis. |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=321–325 |doi=10.3201/eid0204.960407 |issn=1080-6040 |pmc=2639914 |pmid=8969248}}</ref> The bats displayed no clinical signs of disease, which is considered evidence that these bats are a reservoir species of EBOV. In a 2002–2003 survey of 1,030&nbsp;animals including 679&nbsp;bats from [[Gabon]] and the [[Republic of the Congo]], immunoglobulin G (IgG) immune defense molecules indicative of Ebola infection were found in three bat species; at various periods of study, between 2.2 and 22.6% of bats were found to contain both RNA sequences and IgG molecules indicating Ebola infection.<ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Leroy EM, Kumulungui B, Pourrut X, Rouquet P, Hassanin A, Yaba P, Délicat A, Paweska JT, Gonzalez JP, Swanepoel R |date=December 2005 |title=Fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus |journal=Nature |volume=438 |issue=7068 |pages=575–576 |bibcode=2005Natur.438..575L |doi=10.1038/438575a |pmid=16319873 |s2cid=4403209}}</ref> Antibodies against Zaire and Reston viruses have been found in fruit bats in [[Bangladesh]], suggesting that these bats are also potential hosts of the virus and that the filoviruses are present in Asia.<ref name="Olival2013">{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Olival KJ, Islam A, Yu M, Anthony SJ, Epstein JH, Khan SA, Khan SU, Crameri G, Wang LF, Lipkin WI, Luby SP, Daszak P |date=February 2013 |title=Ebola virus antibodies in fruit bats, Bangladesh |journal=Emerg. Infect. Dis. |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=270–273 |doi=10.3201/eid1902.120524 |pmc=3559038 |pmid=23343532}}</ref>

Between 1976 and 1998, in 30,000&nbsp;mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and [[arthropod]]s sampled from regions of EBOV outbreaks, no Ebola virus was detected apart from some genetic traces found in six rodents (belonging to the species ''[[Mus setulosus]]'' and ''[[Praomys]]'') and one [[shrew]] (''[[Sylvisorex ollula]]'') collected from the [[Central African Republic]].<ref name="Pourrut2005">{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Pourrut X, Kumulungui B, Wittmann T, Moussavou G, Délicat A, Yaba P, Nkoghe D, Gonzalez JP, Leroy EM |date=June 2005 |title=The natural history of Ebola virus in Africa |journal=Microbes Infect |volume=7 |issue=7–8 |pages=1005–1014 |doi=10.1016/j.micinf.2005.04.006 |pmid=16002313|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Morvan1999">{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Morvan JM, Deubel V, Gounon P, Nakouné E, Barrière P, Murri S, Perpète O, Selekon B, Coudrier D, Gautier-Hion A, Colyn M, Volehkov V |date=December 1999 |title=Identification of Ebola virus sequences present as RNA or DNA in organs of terrestrial small mammals of the Central African Republic |journal=Microbes and Infection |volume=1 |issue=14 |pages=1193–1201 |doi=10.1016/S1286-4579(99)00242-7 |pmid=10580275}}</ref> However, further research efforts have not confirmed rodents as a reservoir.<ref name="Groseth2007">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Groseth A, Feldmann H, Strong JE |date=September 2007 |title=The ecology of Ebola virus |journal=Trends Microbiol |volume=15 |issue=9 |pages=408–416 |doi=10.1016/j.tim.2007.08.001 |pmid=17698361}}</ref> Traces of EBOV were detected in the carcasses of gorillas and chimpanzees during outbreaks in 2001 and 2003, which later became the source of human infections. However, the high rates of death in these species resulting from EBOV infection make it unlikely that these species represent a natural reservoir for the virus.<ref name="Pourrut2005" />

[[Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo|Deforestation]] has been mentioned as a possible contributor to recent outbreaks, including the [[West African Ebola virus epidemic]]. Index cases of EVD have often been close to recently deforested lands.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 April 2018 |title=Did deforestation cause the Ebola outbreak? |url=https://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2018/04/10/deforestation-ebola-outbreak |access-date=10 July 2018 |website=New Internationalist}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Olivero J, Fa JE, Real R, Márquez AL, Farfán MA, Vargas JM, Gaveau D, Salim MA, Park D, Suter J, King S, Leendertz SA, Sheil D, Nasi R |date=30 October 2017 |title=Recent loss of closed forests is associated with Ebola virus disease outbreaks |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=14291 |bibcode=2017NatSR...714291O |doi=10.1038/s41598-017-14727-9 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=5662765 |pmid=29085050}}</ref>