Beware Of The Bat: How A Mine In Kigali Became The Focus Of Marburg Virus Research

The fatality rate for the disease is usually 88, but during a recent outbreak in Rwanda, deaths were kept to 23. A new approach based on studying miners may be the reason why In a tin mine in a Kigali suburb, just 20 minutes drive from the heart of the Rwandan capital, the sounds of chittering and fluttering come from behind a padlocked door. It bears a sign: Beware of the bat. The 10,000-strong bat colony in this tunnel harbours a deadly virus, and last year workers carried it out along with the rocks they mined.