A groundbreaking new study into the Ebola virus by the Centre for International Forestry Research and partners has revealed that hotspots for the disease may be more widespread, and carried by a greater number of animals species, than previously suspected. Professor John Fa, division of biology and conservation ecology, school of science and the environment, at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, and Centre for International Forestry Research says his team were the first to apply biogeographical techniques to map favourable conditions for a virus, resulting in a map of hotspots where Ebola may spread in the wild on the African continent.