A new preliminary genetic analysis suggests that the current Ebola outbreak in Guinea may have resulted from a survivor of the West African Ebola outbreak 2014-2016 rather than animal-to-human transmission.
According to the pre-print report, the outbreak likely began with the survivor infecting a sexual partner with the deadly virus through sperm – after the virus had been in the man for at least 5 years.
The analysis, published online on Friday, was carried out by scientists from Guinea, the Pasteur Institute in Senegal, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Edinburgh and the PraesensBio company.
According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the longest time an Ebola survivor has rejected the virus was around 500 days.
The previous Ebola outbreak resulted in 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the new report. The current outbreak in Guinea has resulted in 18 cases and killed nine people, according to the New York Times.
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The news is “sobering,” said Dr. William Schaffner, communicable disease epidemiologist and pandemic preparation expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
“Who would have thought that the Ebola virus could remain latent in one person – a man – for 5 years and then trigger another outbreak?” Said conductor. “Until that news got through, we all thought that this latest Ebola outbreak was a result of the introduction of a species.”
“This gives a whole new public health resonance to the idea that male Ebola survivors are a potential reservoir for this infection for many years to come.”
Schaffner said the testicles, next to the eye and the central nervous system, are places in the body where the Ebola virus is known to hide.
Widespread Vaccination?
The new report raises the question of whether some of the previous outbreaks in Africa were not introduced from the wild but instead caused the infection in a partner rather than a survivor.
The particular danger that the virus lies dormant in the testicles rather than in the eyes or in the nervous system is that it could be sexually transmitted to someone, Schaffner said.
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The results of the genetic analysis could exacerbate the stigma for survivors, he said.
It also raises the question of whether widespread vaccinations are needed in equatorial Africa, he said.
Although Ebola vaccines are very effective, it is unknown how long they could protect people.
Another public health measure could be to encourage condom use, which creates difficulties of its own.
In light of this latest news, research will focus on male survivors, Schaffner said, and volunteers will be asked to provide semen samples to find out if it’s a one-off event or something that happens frequently.
Michael Ryan, MD, executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO) health emergencies program, said in a briefing Friday that WHO had sent more than 30,000 doses of vaccine into the country.
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