“It confirmed my suspicions that these bats are moving,” Amman said—and moving not only through the forest but from one roosting site to another. Travel of individual bats (such as K-31) between far-flung roosts (such as Kitaka and Python) implied circumstances whereby Marburg virus might ultimately be transmitted all across Africa, from one bat encampment to another. It suggested opportunities for infecting or reinfecting bat populations in sequence, like a string of blinking Christmas lights. It voided the comforting assumption that this virus is strictly localized.
