Range of bat species suspected of being reservoirs of Ebola, human population density, and Ebola case counts by location in West Africa.

The range of putative EBOV reservoir species the little collared fruit bat (yellow), the hammer-headed fruit bat (blue), and the straw-coloured fruit bat (green) are thought to be associated with previous Central African EBOV outbreaks [40–42]. Guéckédou, Guinea, was the first affected area in December of 2013 (star) [12] with spread to other regions (blue—location of confirmed, red—recent confirmed cases as of October 20, 2014 [43]. The outbreak now involves Sierra Leone and Liberia. Limited spread, in Nigeria and Senegal (only one case), related to travel of infected persons has been identified. A separate Ebola outbreak in the DRC was reported on August 25, 2014 (map inset) [44]. Human-mediated loss of forest resources (2000–2012, red stippling) has been dramatic in the region [45]. In addition to bushmeat-associated exposure, human-mediated environmental change in the region could increase human contact with potentially infected bat species in both the urban and rural environment.