of millions of years old. Genus organization and common names The genus Ebolavirus has been organized into six species; however, the nomenclature has proven somewhat controversial, with many authors continuing to use common names rather than species names when referring to these viruses. In particular, the generic term "Ebola virus" is widely used to refer specifically to members of the species Zaire ebolavirus. Consequently, in 2010, a group of researchers recommended that the name "Ebola virus" be adopted for a subclassification within the species Zaire ebolavirus and that similar common names be formally adopted for other Ebolavirus species. In 2011, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) rejected a proposal (2010.010bV) to formally recognize these names, as they do not designate names for subtypes, variants, strains, or other subspecies level groupings. As such, the widely used common names are not formally recognized as part of the taxonomic nomenclature. In particular, "Ebola virus" does not have an official meaning recognized by ICTV, and rather they continue to use and recommend only the species designation Zaire ebolavirus. The threshold for putting isolates into different species is usually a difference of more than 30% at the nucleotide level, compared to the type strain. If a virus is in a given species but differs from the type strain by more than 10% at the nucleotide level, it is proposed that it be named as a new virus. , none of the Ebolavirus species contain members divergent enough to receive more than one "virus" designation. Research A 2013 study isolated antibodies from fruit bats in Bangladesh, against Ebola Zaire and Reston viruses, thus identifying potential virus hosts and signs of the filoviruses in Asia. A recent alignment-free analysis of Ebola virus genomes from the current outbreak reveals the presence of three short DNA sequences that appear nowhere in the human genome, suggesting that the identification of specific species sequences may prove to be useful for the development of both diagnosis and therapeutics. Notes References External links ICTV Report: Filoviridae ViralZone: Ebola-like viruses – Virological repository from the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR): Ebolavirus 3D macromolecular structures of the Ebola virus archived in the EM Data Bank (EMDB) Animal viral diseases Biological weapons Tropical diseases Virus-related cutaneous conditions Zoonoses Filoviridae Chiroptera-borne diseases Virus genera