I've read that ebola is an effective killer in humans because it has the ability to interrupt dendritic cells from manufacturing proteins that cause the immune system to destroy the dendritic cells when they're infected. Do any other animal species have different kinds of dendritic cells that don't get thus interrupted by ebola?
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$\begingroup$ Recently some cases have sprang up in some African countries. $\endgroup$– biogirlCommented Apr 16, 2014 at 17:10
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While at least some other primates are suspectible to Ebola, pigs appear to be immune. From the WHO factsheet on Ebola (1):
Although non-human primates have been a source of infection for humans, they are not thought to be the reservoir but rather an accidental host like human beings. Since 1994, Ebola outbreaks from the EBOV and TAFV species have been observed in chimpanzees and gorillas.
RESTV has caused severe EVD outbreaks in macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) farmed in Philippines and detected in monkeys imported into the USA in 1989, 1990 and 1996, and in monkeys imported to Italy from Philippines in 1992.
Since 2008, RESTV viruses have been detected during several outbreaks of a deadly disease in pigs in People’s Republic of China and Philippines. Asymptomatic infection in pigs has been reported and experimental inoculations have shown that RESTV cannot cause disease in pigs.
