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International Research Effort Reveals Major Insights Into Spread of West African Ebola Epidemic

news-medical.net - April 12, 2017

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Nature - Virus genomes reveal factors that spread and sustained the Ebola epidemic

An international effort to analyze the entire database of Ebola virus genomes from the 2013-2016 West African epidemic reveals insights into factors that sped or slowed the rampage and calls for using real-time sequencing and data-sharing to contain future viral disease outbreaks.

Published today in the journal Nature, the analysis found that the epidemic unfolded in small, overlapping outbreaks with surprisingly few infected travelers sparking new outbreaks elsewhere, each case representing a missed opportunity to break the transmission chain and end the epidemic sooner.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - A big-picture look at the world’s worst Ebola epidemic

 

 

 

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Blocking TLR4 Pathway May Help Control Ebola Infection

Boston University scientists curbed the host response to Ebola infection by inhibiting TLR4 in macrophages. (CDC Global CC BY 2.0)

CLICK HERE - Virology - Ebolaviruses associated with differential pathogenicity induce distinct host responses in human macrophages

fiercebiotech.com - by Amirah Al Idrus - March 23, 2017

The Ebola virus causes a disease that is often fatal, in part by infecting white blood cells called macrophages and disrupting their immune response. Boston University scientists found that using drugs that block the protein TLR4 can suppress this response and potentially control infection.

Macrophages are responsible for detecting and destroying pathogens, but the Ebola virus activates them through the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathway, causing an inappropriate immune response. The Ebola-infected macrophages end up producing excess cytokines and chemokines—proteins that promote inflammation and worsen the disease.

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The Mission to Stop Ebola: Lessons for UN Crisis Response

CLICK HERE - International Peace Institute - The Mission to Stop Ebola: Lessons for UN Crisis Response (28 page .PDF report)

reliefweb.int - February 15, 2017
ADAM LUPEL AND MICHAEL SNYDER

Executive Summary

The Ebola epidemic of 2014–2016 was a fastmoving, multidimensional emergency that pre - sented unprecedented challenges for the multi - lateral system. In response to the outbreak, which was spreading exponentially in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the UN’s first-ever emergency health mission, the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). UNMEER was mandated by the UN General Assembly in September 2014 to scale up and coordinate the activities of the UN presence on the ground working to stop the outbreak, which eventually claimed over 11,000 lives.

This report asks: Was UNMEER needed? Was it properly structured? Did it deliver? And what broader lessons can be learned from the experience of UNMEER for UN crisis response?

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Ebola 'Super-Spreaders' Cause Most Cases

           

Getty Images

CLICK HERE - PNAS - Spatial and temporal dynamics of superspreading events in the 2014–2015 West Africa Ebola epidemic

bbc.com - by James Gallagher - February 14, 2017

The majority of cases in the world's largest outbreak of Ebola were caused by a tiny handful of patients, research suggests.

The analysis, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows nearly two thirds of cases (61%) were caused by 3% of infected people.

The young and old were more likely to have been "super-spreaders".

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE - Disease “superspreaders” were driving cause of 2014 Ebola epidemic

CLICK HERE - Superspreaders Drove Ebola Epidemic, Study Finds

 

 

 

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First Ebola-Related Death from Breast Milk Transmission Reported in Guinea

Sissoko D, et al. Clin Infect Dis. 2016;doi:10.1093/cid/ciw79.

CLICK HERE - STUDY -  Ebola virus persistence in breast milk after no reported illness: a likely source of virus transmission from mother to child

healio.com - January 10, 2017

Genomic analysis confirmed that the 2015 death of a 9-month-old Guinean infant from Ebola virus was the result of transmission through the breast milk of her asymptomatic mother, according to a recent case study.

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Ebola RNA Found Hiding in Healthcare Worker’s Lungs

           

WIKIMEDIA, HELLERHOFF

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Detection of Viral RNA in Tissues following Plasma Clearance from an Ebola Virus Infected Patient

A case study reports evidence of viral replication lingering in the respiratory tract of an infected person, even after their blood was Ebola free.

the-scientist.com - by Bob Grant - January 5, 2017

Ebola virus may linger and continue to replicate in the lungs of patients recovering from infection, even after viral RNA is no longer detectable in their bloodstreams, according to a case study published today (January 5) in PLOS Pathogens. . . .

 . . . Ippolito and his colleagues monitored the Ebola-infected patient, who was moved from West Africa to a hospital in Italy in 2015, over the course of their infection. They found viral RNA and other markers of viral replication in the patient’s lungs five days after such markers were no longer detectable in the blood.

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Final Trial Results Confirm Ebola Vaccine Provides High Protection Against Disease

                                               

who.int

23 DECEMBER 2016 | GENEVA - An experimental Ebola vaccine was highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial in Guinea, according to results published today in The Lancet. The vaccine is the first to prevent infection from one of the most lethal known pathogens, and the findings add weight to early trial results published last year.

The vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, was studied in a trial involving 11 841 people in Guinea during 2015. Among the 5837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded 10 days or more after vaccination. In comparison, there were 23 cases 10 days or more after vaccination among those who did not receive the vaccine.

The trial was led by WHO, together with Guinea’s Ministry of Health and other international partners.

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CLICK HERE - The Lancet - Efficacy and effectiveness of an rVSV-vectored vaccine in preventing Ebola virus disease: final results from the Guinea ring vaccination, open-label, cluster-randomised trial (Ebola Ça Suffit!)

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How Ebola Adapted to Us

Ebola virus particles (blue) budding from an infected cell. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

Image: Ebola virus particles (blue) budding from an infected cell. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

theatlantic.com - November 3rd 2016 - Ed Yong

In December 2013, in a small village in Guinea, the Ebola virus left its traditional host—probably a bat—and infected a young boy. That leap triggered what became the largest Ebola outbreak in history. At first, the virus stayed within Guinea’s borders and, as in every previous epidemic, affected just a few hundred people.

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Post-Ebola, West Africans Flock Back to Bushmeat, With Risk

submitted by Jeff Williams

            

FILE-In this file photo taken on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014, Yaa Kyarewaa, await clients as she stands next to her makeshift bush meat shop at one of the largest local markets in Accra, Ghana. As the deadly outbreak of Ebola has subsided, people in several West African countries are flocking to eat bush meat again after restrictions were lifted on the consumption of wild animals like hedgehogs and cane rats. But some health experts call it a risky move. (AP Photo/Christian Thompson, File) 

Associated Press - by HILAIRE ZON and CARLEY PETESCH - September 21, 2016

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — As the deadly outbreak of Ebola has subsided, people in several West African countries are flocking to eat bushmeat again after restrictions were lifted on the consumption of wild animals like hedgehogs and cane rats. But some health experts call it a risky move.

Ivory Coast, which neighbors two of the three countries where Ebola killed more than 11,300 people since December 2013, lifted its ban on wild animal meat this month.

The meat of squirrel, deer, fruit bats and rats has long been a key source of protein for many in the region, but it is also a potential source of the Ebola virus.

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Ebola Cluster Traced to Sexual Transmission 15 Months After Man's Illness

cidrap.umn.edu - September 2, 2016

A cluster of Ebola cases in Guinea earlier this year has been traced to sexual transmission from a man who had recovered from the disease close to 15 months earlier, marking the longest known period of sexual transmissibility after recovery from the disease.

"Evidence for sexual transmission of the persisting EBOV in February 2016, about 470 days after onset of symptoms in the survivor, is compelling," says the report by an international team of researchers, published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The cluster involved 3 probable and 7 confirmed cases in Guinea, with 8 deaths, in February, March, and April of this year, the report says.

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CLICK HERE - CID - Resurgence of Ebola virus disease in Guinea linked to a survivor with virus persistence in seminal fluid for more than 500 days

 

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