Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Link Between Ebola Outbreaks

The new Ebola outbreak in Guinea may be traced to a survivor of the previous epidemic in the region, Science reports.

It adds that the current outbreak appears to have begun with the death of a 51-year-old nurse who was thought to have typhoid and malaria, but after her caregiver and attendees of her funeral fell ill, researchers began instead to suspect Ebola. According to Science, a phylogenetic analysis of samples from affected individuals found that the new outbreak samples clustered with viral samples from the 2013 to 2016 Ebola epidemic.

This, researchers from the Guinea Ministry of Health, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, and elsewhere note in a post to virological.org, suggests that the outbreak is not due to spillover from an animal host, but is linked to the previous outbreak. The New York Times notes that the virus may linger in immunologically privileged sites of the body like the eyes, central nervous system, and testes, which are all also difficult to study. 

Science adds that there are concerns that the findings may increase stigmatization of Ebola survivors who already face challenges.

The Scan

Sick Newborns Selected for WGS With Automated Pipeline

Researchers successfully prioritized infants with potential Mendelian conditions for whole-genome sequencing or rapid whole-genome sequencing, as they report in Genome Medicine.

Acne-Linked Loci Found Through GWAS Meta-Analysis

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics find new and known acne vulgaris risk loci with a genome-wide association study and meta-analysis, highlighting hair follicle- and metabolic disease-related genes.

Retina Cell Loss Reversed by Prime Editing in Mouse Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa

A team from China turns to prime editing to correct a retinitis pigmentosa-causing mutation in the PDE6b gene in a mouse model of the progressive photoreceptor loss condition in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

CRISPR Screens Reveal Heart Attack-Linked Gene

Researchers in PLOS Genetics have used CRISPR screens to home in on variants associated with coronary artery disease that affect vascular endothelial function.