Fruit bats (Megachiroptera) have been found to be the principal reservoirs of Ebola virus (EBOV) to humans. However, bats do not appear to be the primary reservoir in the environment and between outbreaks. The cryptic reservoir species of EBOV and its distribution have not been identified. The purpose of the study was to identify the most likely cryptic reservoir species of EBOV and the probable distribution of cryptic reservoir species where EBOV could be maintained in Sierra Leone. The Bioagent Transport and Environmental Modeling System (BioTEMS) was used to analyze mammals, arthropods, plants and protists in order to identify the most likely species to be the cryptic reservoir for EBOV. ArcGIS and BioTEMS were used to determine the probable distribution of cryptic reservoir species. BioTEMS identified free-living pathogenic amoebae (
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