Deep in the jungle, hunting for the next Ebola outbreak

THE WASHINGTON POST by Kevin Sieff                   March 20, 2015

NOUABALE-NDOKI NATIONAL PARK, Congo Republic — More than 3,000 miles from the fading Ebola crisis in West Africa, a team of U.S.-funded researchers is hunting deep in a remote rain forest for the next outbreak.

Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is seen just across the Congo River from Brazzaville, capital of Congo Republic. Researchers have come to Congo Republic to explore the role wild pigs may play in the transmission of Ebola from wildlife to humans. Nichole Sobecki/For The Washington Post

 They aren’t looking for infected people. They’re trying to solve one of science’s great mysteries: Where does Ebola hide between human epidemics?

The answer appears to lie in places such as this — vast tracts of African jungle where gorillas, bats and other animals suspected of spreading the virus share a shrinking eco­system. If scientists can pinpoint the carriers, and how Ebola is transmitted between them, future epidemics will be easier to anticipate — or even prevent.

The mission is urgent. Based on the pattern of previous outbreaks, the next one probably isn’t far away.

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