Ebola may have been making headlines recently but the virus is not actually new. There have been outbreaks due to the virus before, the first of which was documented in 1976. However, a new study shows that the virus is actually older than that. Just how old? At least 16 to 23 million years.
Researchers from the University at Buffalo took a look at Ebola and its history, adding to what is currently known about filoviruses, the family the virus belongs to. Experts initially believed that the virus came to life about 10,000 years ago, around the same time that agriculture developed, but the study sets back the age of Ebola's family to a time when the great apes roamed.
Derek Taylor, PhD, lead researcher and biological sciences professor at the University at Buffalo, said that filoviruses and mammals have been interacting for several million years, making the viruses more ancient than anyone realized before.
Published in the journal Peer J, the study's discovery of Ebola's real age may come in handy when vaccines and programs are being designed to spot emerging pathogens. However, the study doesn't touch on when the today's Ebola, the virus currently wreaking havoc in West Africa, first came to be. Rather, by understanding how the virus began, it was able to show that Ebola shared the same ancestor with the Marburg virus at least 16 million years ago.
Taylor and Jeremy Bruenn, PhD, co-author and biological sciences professor at UB, have been doing research on the fossil genes of viruses. Fossil genes are genetic material that organisms acquire after being infected with a virus.
For the study, researchers found the remnants of genes similar to filoviruses in different rodents. A fossil gene known as VP35 was detected in two voles and two hamsters. This means the genetic material was acquired before or during the Miocene Epoch, a time before the rodents had evolved into distinctive species about 16 to 23 million years ago.
According to Taylor, understanding the ancient past of Ebola can help aid in preventing diseases as it can help identify host species that may carry undiscovered pathogens relating to the virus. When researchers started looking for Ebola reservoirs, they didn't have direction, analyzing anything and everything in the rainforest.
"The more we know about the evolution of filovirus-host interactions, the more we can learn about who the players might be in the system," added Taylor.
Other authors for the study include Jack Zhan, Matthew Ballinger, and Laura Hanzly, all from the Department of Biological Sciences in UB.
