Here is an e-mail I received from a medical organization called "ProMed". This is it with the only modification being the deletion of references to earlier articles - took up too much space.
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Fri 21 Dec 2001
From: William Karesh (edited)
Report from an on-site team in Gabon
I would agree with submitted comments that say gorillas (western lowland gorillas in this instance) are unlikely to have been infected with Ebola virus by eating duikers or other antelopes.
We are working on-site with personnel from the Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville (CIRMF) and Ecosystemes Forestiers d'Afrique Centrale (ECOFAC) to survey villagers about wildlife mortalities and contacts, and to confirm the reports by locating the carcasses where possible.
Currently, we have verbal reports from local people of 25 gorillas seen dead at various forested sites. Additionally, local hunters and villagers are reporting finding dead chimps, guenons, porcupines, pangolins, black-backed duikers, genets, rodents, a "snake", and tortoises. This in itself is a rare observation. Local villagers and hunters say that finding so many dead animals in a short period is unusual. From our work in Central African forests, we concur. One group of hunters said they watched a duiker eating or licking a dead gorilla (In zoos, duikers are known to eat small amounts of meat if available).
Teams sent in to corroborate stories have found the remains of one gorilla group (2 large males, 2 females, and an infant) together. At another location, a report led us to a carcass of a adult male gorilla and samples were collected for laboratory confirmation.
**********In a village near the border, 4 people came in contact with a dead gorilla and collected body parts for consumption. One of these people has died and the 3 others are ill. I have no information about the laboratory confirmation of [infection in] these people, but 2 are reportedly recovering and the fourth apparently remains unwell. *********A domestic goat living with them died bleeding from the nose. Postmortem samples were collected from this goat. All animal samples collected to date have been submitted to our collaborators at the CIRMF, Gabon.
To the best of our knowledge, the 4 humans mentioned above are not linked to any of the other human cases (which appear to have direct or indirect contact paths leading back to the illness and death of one man in Gabon).
William B Karesh, DVM
Department Head
Field Veterinary Program
Wildlife Conservation Society
2300 Southern Blvd.
Bronx, NY 10460 USA