Business · The Guardian Technology
Most of the time, viruses such as Ebola live quietly in the bodies of their animal hosts
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Virus-laden bats who live in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), whose borders encompass 60% of the world’s second largest rainforest, usually reach only a few people in remote locations, resulting in small outbreaks that quickly burn out.
Key facts
- The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in west Africa infected more than 28,000 people in 10 countries on three continents
- Artisanal mining employs an estimated 2 million people in the DRC, including more than 380,000 in eastern DRC
- That’s why, with each percentage-point increase in deforestation in central Africa, as a 2025 analysis found, the incidence of malaria and Ebola spikes by 20% to 40%
- The current outbreak of Bundibugyo Ebola fits the pattern, too, being preceded by a record loss of 1.5m acres of Congo basin rainforest in 2024, according to satellite data analyzed by Global Forest
Summary
For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola have been much larger, affecting thousands and even tens of thousands of people across multiple countries. The conventional explanation has to do with the larger and more interconnected human populations that pathogens can access. Most of the time, viruses such as Ebola live quietly in the bodies of their animal hosts, widely understood to be bats, causing them little or no harm. But cutting down the trees in which bats live ruptures this delicate balance between Ebola-carrying animals and humans. That’s why, with each percentage-point increase in deforestation in central Africa, as a 2025 analysis found, the incidence of malaria and Ebola spikes by 20% to 40%.