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Ebola update

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 14, page 131 (2016)Cite this article

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The latest Ebola virus (EBOV) epidemic was declared to be over on 14 January 2016, but a new case was confirmed in Sierra Leone just a few hours after that announcement, which highlights the continuing risk posed by EBOV. Now, two studies report advances in surveillance and therapeutics that may aid in controlling future outbreaks. Quick et al. describe a genome sequencing system based on nanopore DNA sequencing technology that was transported in standard airline luggage and used in West Africa to monitor the latest outbreak of EBOV in real-time. The system was used to sequence and analyse 142 samples and enabled data generation in 24–48 hours, in a resource-limited setting. Flyak et al. isolated human monoclonal antibodies against viral glycoproteins from survivors of a previous outbreak of Bundibugyo virus, which belongs to the Ebolavirus genus. Notably, a large fraction of the isolated antibodies were broadly neutralizing and cross-reactive against several Ebolavirus species, including EBOV. Furthermore, one of these antibodies protected both mice and guinea pigs from lethal challenge with EBOV.

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References

  1. Quick, J. et al. Real-time, portable genome sequencing for Ebola surveillance. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature16996 (2016)

  2. Flyak, A. I. et al. Cross-reactive and potent neutralizing antibody responses in human survivors of natural Ebolavirus infection. Cell 164, 392–405 (2016)

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  1. Cláudio Nunes-Alves
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Nunes-Alves, C. Ebola update. Nat Rev Microbiol 14, 131 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2016.24

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