Elise Smith--- "Ebola’s West African Rampage Was Likely Bolstered by a Mutation"

Elise Smith

6 November, 2016

With the recent Ebola outbreak in the past year, tensions have run high with paranoia, but as of recently, the panic seems to have diffused itself. This is mostly attributed to the fact that only this year has someone come into the United States infected with the lethal disease, however, this outbreak has continued to occur in the reaches of Africa both prior to and after the domestic scare. It was found in recent research by two independent sources that the most recent strain of Ebola has evolved to become a more infectious agent than ever. According to the article by Maron, both studies sequenced over 1000 isolated viral genomes, which lead to the discovery of a very small mutation that had changed during the most recent outbreaks, which had gone undetected. The mutation, according to Ball and Luban, affected how the gene encodes surface proteins that aided in how the virus binds to the surface of human cells. The exact change in function caused by this mutation is still unknown, but it is hypothesised by both studies that it leads to higher “viremia” (presence of viruses), therefore, increasing transmission of the disease, leading to higher death tolls. In addition to this, with this second generation virus, it was shown that it was less likely to enter non-primate animals because it enabled Ebola to thrive in human hosts, making it less likely travel between animal species to survive. If infected with this newest strain of Ebola, the host is twice as likely to die than those infected with past strains, as reflected in the current outbreak in Western Africa, which has affected over 28 thousand people, which is more cases and deaths than all previous outbreaks combined, potentially propagating new mutations in the virus. 

This article piqued my interest because it looks into Ebola, a very debilitating and lethal disease, which I was initially very fascinated with in high school my freshman year. Compounding upon this, it was principally engaging because of the (unfortunate) relevance of the topic after seeing how easily it can infiltrate international borders. Additionally, with my major being in biotechnology, I was also engrossed with its reference to mutations in genome sequences, especially concerning a mutation so small that causes such a potent effect on its hosts. Another aspect I learned and found interesting was the behaviors the virus took on in order to survive, regarding how it would transfer to different species until it could thrive in its ideal host. Although the reality of the situation in Western Africa still remains very grim in the face of this epidemic, the science behind it is still very much complex and intriguing.

Source: Maron, Dina Fine. "Ebola’s West African Rampage Was Likely Bolstered by a Mutation." Scientific American. Nature America Inc., 3 Nov. 2016. Web.