scholarly journals Catching Chances: The Movement to Be on the Ground and Research Ready before an Outbreak

Viruses ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 439 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brett-Major ◽  
James Lawler
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Marburg Virus ◽  
Just In Time ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Medical Countermeasures

After more than 28,000 Ebola virus disease cases and at least 11,000 deaths in West Africa during the 2014–2016 epidemic, the world remains without a licensed vaccine or therapeutic broadly available and demonstrated to alleviate suffering. This deficiency has been felt acutely in the two, short, following years with two Ebola virus outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and a Marburg virus outbreak in Uganda. Despite billions of U.S. dollars invested in developing medical countermeasures for filoviruses in the antecedent decades, resulting in an array of preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic products, none are available on commercial shelves. This paper explores why just-in-time research efforts in the field during the West Africa epidemic failed, as well as some recent initiatives to prevent similarly lost opportunities.

scholarly journals Offering patients more: how the West Africa Ebola outbreak can shape innovation in therapeutic research for emerging and epidemic infections

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1721) ◽  
pp. 20160294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda M. Rojek ◽  
Peter W. Horby
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Nipah Virus ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Marburg Virus ◽  
World Health ◽  
The West

Although, after an epidemic of over 28 000 cases, there are still no licensed treatments for Ebola virus disease (EVD), significant progress was made during the West Africa outbreak. The pace of pre-clinical development was exceptional and a number of therapeutic clinical trials were conducted in the face of considerable challenges. Given the on-going risk of emerging infectious disease outbreaks in an era of unprecedented population density, international travel and human impact on the environment it is pertinent to focus on improving the research and development landscape for treatments of emerging and epidemic-prone infections. This is especially the case since there are no licensed therapeutics for some of the diseases considered by the World Health Organization as most likely to cause severe outbreaks—including Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Marburg virus, Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever and Nipah virus. EVD, therefore, provides a timely exemplar to discuss the barriers, enablers and incentives needed to find effective treatments in advance of health emergencies caused by emerging infectious diseases. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic: data, decision-making and disease control’.

scholarly journals Spillover of ebolaviruses into people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo prior to the 2018 Ebola virus disease outbreak

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Goldstein ◽  
Manjunatha N. Belaganahalli ◽  
Eddy K. Syaluha ◽  
Jean-Paul K. Lukusa ◽  
Denise J. Greig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Exposure ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Marburg Virus ◽  
Ebola Virus Disease ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
North Kivu

Abstract Background The second largest Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2018 in North Kivu Province. Data suggest the outbreak is not epidemiologically linked to the 2018 outbreak in Equateur Province, and that independent introduction of Ebola virus (EBOV) into humans occurred. We tested for antibodies to ebolaviruses in febrile patients seeking care in North Kivu Province prior to the EVD outbreak. Methods Patients were enrolled between May 2017 and April 2018, before the declared start of the outbreak in eastern DRC. Questionnaires were administered to collect demographic and behavioural information to identify risk factors for exposure. Biological samples were evaluated for ebolavirus nucleic acid, and for antibodies to ebolaviruses. Prevalence of exposure was calculated, and demographic factors evaluated for associations with ebolavirus serostatus. Results Samples were collected and tested from 272 people seeking care in the Rutshuru Health Zone in North Kivu Province. All patients were negative for filoviruses by PCR. Intial screening by indirect ELISA found that 30 people were reactive to EBOV-rGP. Results were supported by detection of ebolavirus reactive linear peptides using the Serochip platform. Differential screening of all reactive serum samples against the rGP of all six ebolaviruses and Marburg virus (MARV) showed that 29 people exhibited the strongest reactivity to EBOV and one to Bombali virus (BOMV), and western blotting confirmed results. Titers ranged from 1:100 to 1:12,800. Although both sexes and all ages tested positive for antibodies, women were significantly more likely to be positive and the majority of positives were in February 2018. Conclusions We provide the first documented evidence of exposure to Ebola virus in people in eastern DRC. We detected antibodies to EBOV in 10% of febrile patients seeking healthcare prior to the declaration of the 2018–2020 outbreak, suggesting early cases may have been missed or exposure ocurred without associated illness. We also report the first known detection of antibodies to BOMV, previously detected in bats in West and East Africa, and show that human exposure to BOMV has occurred. Our data suggest human exposure to ebolaviruses may be more frequent and geographically widespread.

scholarly journals A systematic review and meta-analysis of patient data from the West Africa (2013–16) Ebola virus disease epidemic

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1307-1314 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Rojek ◽  
A. Salam ◽  
R.J. Ragotte ◽  
E. Liddiard ◽  
A. Elhussain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Patient Data ◽  
Ebola Virus Disease ◽  
The West

scholarly journals Clinical Evaluation of QuickNaviTM-Ebola in the 2018 Outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Makiala ◽  
Daniel Mukadi ◽  
Anja De Weggheleire ◽  
Shino Muramatsu ◽  
Daisuke Kato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Rapid Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Ebola Virus Disease ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
Republic Of The Congo

The recent large outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have highlighted the need for rapid diagnostic tests to control this disease. In this study, we clinically evaluated a previously developed immunochromatography-based kit, QuickNaviTM-Ebola. During the 2018 outbreaks in DRC, 928 blood samples from EVD-suspected cases were tested with QuickNaviTM-Ebola and the WHO-approved GeneXpert. The sensitivity and specificity of QuickNaviTM-Ebola, estimated by comparing it to GeneXpert-confirmed cases, were 85% (68/80) and 99.8% (846/848), respectively. These results indicate the practical reliability of QuickNaviTM-Ebola for point-of-care diagnosis of EVD.

scholarly journals Challenges of ongoing Covid and Ebola epidemics amidst violence and other epidemics in DR Congo

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Amorim Tomaz ◽  
F I P M Bastos ◽  
R S Santos ◽  
M Mossoko
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Conflict Zone

Abstract The world has seen outbreaks of emergency and re-emergency of infectious diseases very often in the past years, many of them with devastating consequences for low-income countries with fragile or nonexistent health system, covid-19 being by now the last of a long series of global challenges. Although it is a huge challenge for the whole world, one country is facing it together with a current Ebola outbreak plus violence and some other diseases. The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing the immediate effects of both epidemics as illness and death, however its consequences at the political and economic level are usually more complex and may be protracted. Following the debate on why poor countries remain poor, it is maybe useful to rethink poverty and inequality keeping in mind Amartya Sen's seminal concepts: development must comprise freedom and respect for human rights and institutions at the price of fostering a vicious circle of (re)emerging diseases and structural violence. Ebola epidemics, that usually face some challenges when they happen alone, now together with malaria, measles, plague and covid, on top of violence in some areas, the disease sees its protocols harmed: for covid the orientation is to stay isolated, for Ebola the response includes tracking contacts. What means coming with a team to field to do the mapping in the middle of a confinement. The surveillance for such many epidemics on top of violence and humanitarian crisis makes the Democratic Republic of Congo one of the most worrying countries in terms of consequences of the Covid outbreak. Key messages Study of the association between the Covid, Ebola virus disease outbreak and the at-risk population living in the conflict zone in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The study presents the difficulties that the population encountered in the face of restrictions imposed by armed groups to reach health services during an Ebola outbreak, in a conflict zone.

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