Latest Data on Ebola Virus Rules Out Rapid Accumulation of Deadlier Mutations

The Ebola virus evolved as it spread to new areas but it did not change at a faster rate than it has in past outbreaks in the west across Sierra Leone.

The Ebola virus evolved as it spread through West Africa last year, but its mutation rate did not accelerate as rapidly as some had thought, reveals an analysis of the virus’s genetic sequence data.

The data offer reassurance that the scope of the current epidemic did not involve the virus’s evolution into a more virulent or deadlier form.

Liberia, a Country That Reported the Highest Number of Deaths, is Now Ebola-Free
It's a huge victory for Liberia that had reported the highest number of deaths in the largest, and most complex outbreak since Ebola first emerged in 1976.

To reach this conclusion, a team led by Wu-Chun Cao, epidemiologist at the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity in Beijing, sequenced 175 Ebola virus genomes from people who were infected with the virus, including some who died.

Cao’s group combined the data with sequences found by Pardis Sabeti, computational geneticist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The combined data allowed Cao to track how the Ebola virus changed as it spread east to west across Sierra Leone. Ebola entered the country in May and reached the capital city, Freetown, in July.

Italian Male Nurse Working With an NGO in Sierra Leone Tested Positive for Ebola
The Italian nurse who contracted the ebola virus will be transferred to the capital's Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital, which specializes in infectious diseases.

The analysis found that the virus evolved as it spread to new areas but it did not change at a faster rate than it has in past outbreaks. There is no evidence that Ebola evolved harmful mutations as it spread through Sierra Leone.

"This is just the virus doing what it does," said David Robertson, computational and evolutionary biologist at University of Manchester.

WHO Certifies Liberia as 'Ebola-free', African Union Grateful to Leaders for Support
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the African union, thanked partners from across the world for eradicating Ebola and rebuilding the health systems.

The study appeared in the journal Nature.

Source-IANS

Kenya Lifts Travel Ban from Liberia After It was Declared Ebola-Free by WHO
However, Doctors Without Borders has urged the government to be cautious until the disease is completely extinguished in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.