Ebola Reston is the only known filovirus that is not susceptible by humans, however it is very lethal in monkeys. Catergorized as a cause of simion hemorrhagic fever, Reston first appeared in 1989 in a small town in Virginia, in the Reston monkey house which kept African Monkeys for scientific study on Ebola vaccines. However, a disasterous event occured when healthy monkeys who were across the room from ebola-injected monkeys began to show symptoms and die from ebola. In a state of panic, questions of whether ebola had mutated into a new form that was spread through the air. The military sent in a special unit of army veterinarians that disposed of all the monkeys in the Reston facility.
Later it was discovered that this was not a form of Ebola Zaire or Sudan, but a new strain that became to be known as Ebola Reston. However, this strain is not infectious to humans only monkeys. Ebola Reston can be transmitted through bodily fluids as well as through the air. Even though Ebola Reston is non-contageous to humans, if the it were to mutate and jump into the human population, Reston could spread like the common cold.
Monkeys from the Phillipines have been found to also be infected with Ebola Reston. Therefore this filovirus does not necessarily reside in Africa. Ebola Reston has also found its way into experimental monkeys in Texas recently as well.
Reston's mortality rate is approximately 70% in monkeys, which makes it a very hazardous and deadly virus. The natural resevoir or carrier for the Ebola Reston is unknown as with all other forms of the filovirus family. In it's present form, Ebola Reston is harmless to humans, but one must ask themselves of the ramifications if Reston were to jump species into human domains.