A recent discovery revealed that filoviruses - a family to which Ebola and its similarly lethal relative Marburg belong - could be traced back to at least 16-23 million years ago. Filoviruses were likely to have existed in the Miocene Epoch and at that time lines leading to Ebola and Marburg had already rooted out as stated. 'Filoviruses are far more ancient than previously thought. These things have been interacting with mammals for a long time several million years' said lead researcher Derek Taylor professor of biological sciences at the University at Buffalo in the US. In the study Taylor