Ebola survivor infected her family more than a year after contracting the disease

A 33-year-old woman in Liberia harbored the Ebola virus for more than a year before transmitting the infection to her family members, according to a new case study published in The Lancet Monday. This is the first evidence that the Ebola virus can be transmitted by a woman survivor of infection, opening a wide range of ramifications that could have an impact on treatment measures, public health policy and the fight against the stigmatization of survivors of epidemics. "We already knew that the Ebola virus – as well as the Marburg virus, a related human pathogen – was able to persist in certain sites of the body," says Jason Ladner, assistant professor at New York University. the Institute of Pathogens and Microbiome of Northern Arizona University and a co-author of the new study. In fact, studies published from the outbreak in West Africa have shed light on the relatively high frequency of these persistent infections in the male reproductive system, as well as some case studies demonstrating persistence in other compartments, as the "other studies have shown that this persistence can result in re-emergence of the virus even after an epidemic has been contained, by sources such as breast milk or transmission." sexual.

While male survivors have been responsible for similar reoccurrences of the Ebola virus in the past, "this is the first time that an investigation of any of these outbreaks has provided solid evidence that the virus had been transmitted by a persistently infected surviving woman, "says Ladner

. It's been produced in the last few months of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that hit the region that started in December 2014 and has not ended yet. before mid 201 6; the outbreak has resulted in more than 28,000 cases of infection and 11,000 deaths. The family at the center of the case study appeared on the radar of health officials in November 2015, about six months after Liberia declared for the first time that its own Ebola outbreak was over. and two months after another statement of Ebola

Three members of the woman's family were also infected: a 15-year-old boy died of the disease, while a 40-year-old husband and an 8-year-old son contracted the infection but quickly recovered after the treatment. The younger son of 5 years of the family avoided the infection. Other people who had recent contacts with the family – 120 people in total – were brought for observation and testing, and given the recent Ebola vaccine developed by Merck and greenlit for administration by the World Organization. of Health. None of these individuals became ill (the vaccine itself has been remarkably successful in containing and dispelling the latest Ebola outbreak that hit the Democratic Republic of Congo.)

Scientists are still puzzled to try to understand how the system virus for so long. "Very little work has been done to elucidate the mechanisms used by the Ebola virus to cause persistent infections," says Ladner. But what we do know is that these persistent infections occur in body compartments that have some sort of "immune privilege," so that pathogens like viruses can fly under the radar and avoid an answer immune. But Ladner says more work is needed to understand how the Ebola virus and other viruses can persist like this. Most have DNA genomes, but others like Ebola and Zika have RNA genomes, so it's unclear exactly what common traits they all share, and s & rsquo; They can establish a mechanistic link between viruses

. From dormant to lethal is also unclear, although the timing of this case study suggests that the Ebola virus has been returned as a result of the Liberian woman's pregnancy. In the summer of 2014, when Ebola began to spread in Liberia and Guinea, the woman became ill by caring for her brother, who was dying of an unknown disease. She was pregnant at the time and experienced miscarriage while she was sick, but she recovered. Neither she nor her brother have been tested or treated for Ebola, so it's not confirmed if the virus was actually the disease with which they came down.

Then, 13 months later in September 2015, she gave birth to her husband's third child. but became ill a few weeks later. As Liberia was "free of Ebola" at the time, it was not tested and was sent home a few days later after being treated for malaria and malaria. anemia, when her family began to experience Ebola symptoms while caring for her. 19659002] But her pregnancy could be a key factor in her case. While a woman is pregnant, the body naturally suppresses the immune system in order to make sure that our natural defenses do not inadvertently attack the baby. The Liberian mother may have owned pieces of the virus that were dormant or deleted after her initial infection in 2014, but allowed to emerge in a virulent and contagious fashion 13 months later when the immune system was tempered.

Strangely, neither the mother nor the newborn had the virus in the blood, so none of them seemed to have been infected with the Ebola virus, but both possessed antibodies against the virus, which which strongly suggests that the mother had already contracted an infection earlier. She has managed to fight these antibodies through breastfeeding.

Although the episode is still filled with mystery, new discoveries can only suggest ways to better prevent, treat, and manage post-infection localities for the Ebola virus. "The greatest implication of this research is the need to remain vigilant, to carry out appropriate surveillance and to carry out prevention campaigns to inform the population of the proven sources of transmission and the means of avoiding it", says Gus Palacios, a researcher at the US Army. Institute of Medical Research on Infectious Diseases and co-author of the new study. In an accompanying editorial for The Lancet Lorenzo Subissi, a researcher on infectious diseases in Brussels, raised concerns that new discoveries could create more stigma for Ebola survivors trying to get back to their lives. These fears must certainly be addressed through educational resources.

In addition, the severity of the Ebola virus highlights the need for better treatments to fight persistent infections. "In order to prevent the potential for disease recrudescence and additional viral transmission, it will be important to eliminate the virus from all the compartments of the body," says Ladner. Although this type of work is extremely new, a cause like Ebola may be enough to encourage institutions and businesses to spend time and money on such research.