In its statement of April 3, 2019, the ZKBS addresses, among other things, the classification of the Bombali ebolavirus (BOMV), which was first detected in 2016 through oral and rectal swabs from bulldog bats in Sierra Leone. The ZKBS classifies BOMV as a donor and recipient organism for genetic engineering work in risk group 4. This classification is justified, on the one hand, by the fact that human infection with BOMV currently appears possible. Although human pathogenicity of the virus has not yet been proven, it is known that the tested bat species, the lesser bulldog bat and the Angolan bulldog bat, often use human dwellings as roosting sites, and human contact with BOMV is therefore conceivable. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of the viral genome revealed that BOMV shares a nucleotide sequence identity of 55–59 percent with other Ebolaviruses. This close relationship to other Ebolaviruses, also classified in risk group 4, prompts the ZKBS to assign Bombali ebolavirus (BOMV) a high risk group.
