Rapidly Mutating Ebola Renders Diagnostic Tests Inaccurate – AKA: You May Have a New Strain of Ebola and Test Negative
Investmentwatchblog.com
August 29th, 2014
An international team of scientists — some of whom succumbed to the virus during the course of their research — has sequenced 99 Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone, creating a valuable trove of genetic data for scientists and health care workers struggling to bring the growing outbreak under control.
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“We were able to sequence and analyze our samples with about a 10-day turnaround. This is unprecedented, as earlier studies have usually taken many months with much smaller datasets,” says Daniel J. Park, a co-author and computational biologist at the Broad Institute, in an email interview with Mashable.
The research, which used an advanced genetic analysis technique known as deep sequencing, reveals that the disease is rapidly accumulating mutations as it spreads.
The team found 395 genetic changes, including 341 that make this outbreak distinct from the viral genomes tied to previous Ebola outbreaks, and 50 that are unique to the West African outbreak more broadly.
Of particular interest are mutations that alter protein sequences, since they could potentially change the accuracy of diagnostic tests for the virus as well as vaccines and therapies.
It is unclear if these mutations are related to the severity of the current outbreak, but further genetic analysis could determine this.
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