EVIDENT publication in the Journal Nature

On 17 June 2015 recent results from the EVIDENT project were published in the Journal Nature. The international study showed how the Ebola virus mutated and spread during the outbreak in West Africa. The international team used blood samples from Ebola infected patients collected over a 1 year period by the European Mobile Laboratory (EMLab), which was the first rapid response diagnostics unit deployed to the outbreak epicentre in Guinea. The genetic fingerprint of each isolate was defined and compared using complex mathematical modelling that showed the virus was introduced into the Guinean population in December 2013 at a single source, which supports theories from epidemiologists. The data indicates that the genetic changes in the virus are not as rapid as previously reported and mutations in the viral glycoprotein, which is the target for immunotherapies and the new vaccines, are relatively small giving hope that new strains will not be resistant to these important interventions.

Get access to the Nature publication here.