Bat Guano and Ebola virus? Is there a cause for concern.

[Icemud]

Hey everyone....

As many of you are probably aware, the Ebola virus is going nuts in Africa right now and the EU and other countries are prepared for an outbreak if it were to cross the boarders.

Now as many of us organic/natural growers use Bat Guano in liquid and also powdered forms to enhance/enrich our soil and nutrient problems....

But is this a cause for concern...

Its seems that from what I read, fruit bats are the common carriers of the ebola virus, and the virus is also transmitted through there feces, (guano).

It just makes me wonder,

are we putting ourselves at risk by using bat guanos?

What are the chances that these guano's we buy are from Africa?

Is there some kind of sterilization process to eliminate harmful pathogents in the guano's we use?

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter...

 

[Srilania]

Re: Bat Guano and Ebola virus??? Is there a cause for concern.

AFAIK, most of it's from Indonesia, Mexico, and Jamaica. Shouldn't be an issue, but that is one disadvantage of organics, is that they can introduce contaminants

 

[Icemud]

Re: Bat Guano and Ebola virus??? Is there a cause for concern.

Here is a interesting summary of a study I found...

The article discusses a study which investigated group C betacoronavirus in bat guano fertilizer in Thailand. Bat guano from a cave in Ratchaburi Province were examined to asses pathogens. It was found that all bat guano samples screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were negative for Nipah virus (NiV) and Histoplasma capsulatum but were positive for group C betacoronavirus.

 

[Conradino23]

Re: Bat Guano and Ebola virus??? Is there a cause for concern.

I never heard of any grower catching Ebola virus from bat guano, so I wouldn't panic

 

[Icemud]

Re: Bat Guano and Ebola virus??? Is there a cause for concern.

I never heard of any grower catching Ebola virus from bat guano, so I wouldn't panic

Thanks for your response...not really a panic, but very possible. The whole Ebola outbreak in Africa right now is because of Fruit bats, and the Ebola Virus among like 50 more are known to transport through bat droppings. That really is pretty concerning as far as what measures are used to test the guanos before they hit the market, how do they verify no pathogens.

 

[hockeybry2]

just avoid human guano ;-)