212 Ebola messages in my mailbox...

[Patrick O'Neil]

On 15 May 1995, Francisco Muril Zerbini wrote:

> 
> Patrick O'Neil (patrick at corona) wrote:
> 
> :  I read of that and now wonder if they really did attempt to locate some 
> : sort of animal or insect-borne host and exclude plants.  I wonder at the 
> : possibility that ebola might reside in plants.  Just brainstorming, and I 
> 
> You know, I have entertained the idea that Filoviruses might be plant
> viruses that jumped to animals for a while, just as an exercise, but since
> I'm a plant virologist I always thought that I would be ridiculed. But now
> that you have mentioned it, please allow me to tell you the story of a
> very interesting plant virus: tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). 

Thanks, an informative post and it also had the benefit of relieving some 
of the fool factor for suggestion plant-to-animal transfer.  The thought 
had hit me almost only as I wrote it so I didn't have much reflection 
time.  In any case, I subsequently tried to recall from all the reading, 
studying, classes, etc if I had ever come across a reference to a virus 
in plants that also adversely affected humans now and again...to no 
avail.  I also considered the idea of transfer:  a plant doesn't just 
shed virus into the air for a passing animal to pick up, but would likely 
have to have an insect vector intermediate or simple vertical transfer.  
As for insects, I thought that a number of insects had already been 
checked for possible hosting with negative results.  Of course, it might 
be a rare event and the insects not yet tested.
  Another _hypothetical_ possibility ocurred to me in regards to cotton.  
If cotton handling and picking is largely done by hand (which is likely 
in a Third World Nation), then there is high likelyhood of poked, 
pricked, and scratched hands and fingers.  IF the virus were in cotton 
and a cotton picker or handler pricked his/her finger, it might allow for 
a direct innoculation into the bloodstream...  It would be interesting to 
find out that a plant virus could do such a thing, but I feel it is 
highly unlikely in my gut.  Hell, if nothing else, it is a plot for a 
sci-fi story...

Patrick