Reduced evolutionary rate in reemerged Ebola virus transmission chains

David J Blackley; Michael R Wiley; Jason T Ladner; Mosoka Fallah; Terrence Lo; Merle L Gilbert; Christopher Gregory; Jonathan D'ambrozio; Stewart Coulter; Suzanne Mate; Zephaniah Balogun; Jeffrey Kugelman; William Nwachukwu; Karla Prieto; Adolphus Yeiah; Fred Amegashie; Brian Kearney; Meagan Wisniewski; John Saindon; Gary Schroth; Lawrence Fakoli; Joseph W Diclaro 2nd; Jens H Kuhn; Lisa E Hensley; Peter B Jahrling; Ute Ströher; Stuart T Nichol; Moses Massaquoi; Francis Kateh; Peter Clement; Alex Gasasira; Fatorma Bolay; Stephan S Monroe; Andrew Rambaut; Mariano Sanchez-Lockhart; A Scott Laney; Tolbert Nyenswah; Athalia Christie; Gustavo Palacios

doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600378

Reduced evolutionary rate in reemerged Ebola virus transmission chains

Sci Adv. 2016 Apr 29;2(4):e1600378. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1600378. eCollection 2016 Apr.

Authors

David J Blackley¹, Michael R Wiley², Jason T Ladner², Mosoka Fallah³, Terrence Lo¹, Merle L Gilbert², Christopher Gregory¹, Jonathan D'ambrozio², Stewart Coulter¹, Suzanne Mate², Zephaniah Balogun¹, Jeffrey Kugelman², William Nwachukwu¹, Karla Prieto², Adolphus Yeiah³, Fred Amegashie³, Brian Kearney², Meagan Wisniewski², John Saindon¹, Gary Schroth⁴, Lawrence Fakoli⁵, Joseph W Diclaro 2nd⁶, Jens H Kuhn⁷, Lisa E Hensley⁷, Peter B Jahrling⁷, Ute Ströher¹, Stuart T Nichol¹, Moses Massaquoi³, Francis Kateh³, Peter Clement⁸, Alex Gasasira⁸, Fatorma Bolay⁵, Stephan S Monroe¹, Andrew Rambaut⁹, Mariano Sanchez-Lockhart², A Scott Laney¹, Tolbert Nyenswah³, Athalia Christie¹, Gustavo Palacios²

Affiliations

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.
² U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
³ Ministry of Health, Monrovia, Liberia.
⁴ Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA 92122, USA.
⁵ Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, Charlesville, Liberia.
⁶ Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, U.S. Navy, Cairo, Egypt.
⁷ Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
⁸ World Health Organization, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.
⁹ Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK.; Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.; Centre for Immunology, Infection and Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK.

Abstract

On 29 June 2015, Liberia's respite from Ebola virus disease (EVD) was interrupted for the second time by a renewed outbreak ("flare-up") of seven confirmed cases. We demonstrate that, similar to the March 2015 flare-up associated with sexual transmission, this new flare-up was a reemergence of a Liberian transmission chain originating from a persistently infected source rather than a reintroduction from a reservoir or a neighboring country with active transmission. Although distinct, Ebola virus (EBOV) genomes from both flare-ups exhibit significantly low genetic divergence, indicating a reduced rate of EBOV evolution during persistent infection. Using this rate of change as a signature, we identified two additional EVD clusters that possibly arose from persistently infected sources. These findings highlight the risk of EVD flare-ups even after an outbreak is declared over.

Keywords: Ebola virus; Ebola virus disease; Liberia; Western Africa; flare-up; persistent infection; reduced evolutionary rate; reemerged; transmission chain.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Disease Outbreaks
Ebolavirus / genetics
Ebolavirus / pathogenicity*
Genome, Viral / genetics
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / genetics
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / transmission*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / virology
Humans
Liberia

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding