Viruses going Ape

As if life wasn't hard enough for the Great Apes, this article is reporting that Ebola continues to threaten some of the remaining population in Africa:

In 2003, an outbreak of Ebola struck gorillas living in the Congo. Bats in the area at that time were also carrying the virus, researchers recently discovered (New Scientist, 3 December 2005, p 20). That meant either the virus had always been lurking in bats, and spread to the gorillas, or that the bats were newly infected as the epidemic crossed their territory.

Now researchers have found that the bat viruses all descended recently from a common ancestor, confirming that the virus was new to the bats and is on the march (PLoS Pathogens, vol 2, e90).

If you can, here's a link where you can donate some money and help out.