Background
Ebolaviruses were first described in 1976, aetiologically associated with outbreaks of human haemorrhagic fever in central and western Africa [1]. While outbreaks were sporadic, the high mortality rate of Ebolaviruses and the related Marburgviruses (family Filoviridae) demanded elaboration of their ecology. The origin of the viruses was cryptic [2, 3] and remained elusive until Leroy et al. [4] reported serological and molecular evidence of fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus. Subsequent studies have revealed evidence of filovirus infection in multiple species of bats globally [5], including Africa [1, 6–8], Europe [9] and Asia [10, 11]. Reston virus (RESTV) was first described in 1989 when macaques imported from the Philippines to Reston, Virginia in the USA developed febrile, haemorrhagic disease, and asymptomatically infected several animal attendants working in the primate research facility [12, 13]. In 2008–09, RESTV was detected in domestic pigs and pig workers [14, 15] in the Philippines. In 2010, under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), we investigated Philippine bats as possible wildlife reservoirs of RESTV. Here we present the findings of this surveillance.