Abstract
An unprecedented Ebola virus (EBOV) epidemic occurred in 2013–2016 in West Africa. Over this time the epidemic exponentially grew and moved to Europe and North America, with several imported cases and many Health Care Workers (HCW) infected. Better understanding of EBOV infection patterns in different body compartments is mandatory to develop new countermeasures, as well as to fully comprehend the pathways of human-to-human transmission. We have longitudinally explored the persistence of EBOV-specific negative sense genomic RNA (neg-RNA) and the presence of positive sense RNA (pos-RNA), including both replication intermediate (antigenomic-RNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, in the upper and lower respiratory tract, as compared to plasma, in a HCW infected with EBOV in Sierra Leone, who was hospitalized in the high isolation facility of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” (INMI), Rome, Italy. We observed persistence of pos-RNA and neg-RNAs in longitudinally collected specimens of the lower respiratory tract, even after viral clearance from plasma, suggesting possible local replication. The purpose of the present study is to enhance the knowledge on the biological features of EBOV that can contribute to the human-to-human transmissibility and to develop effective intervention strategies. However, further investigation is needed in order to better understand the clinical meaning of viral replication and shedding in the respiratory tract.
Highlights
The Ebola virus (EBOV) Makona variant is a negative-sense RNA virus and a member of the Filoviridae
EBOV Replication Markers in Respiratory Samples longitudinally explored the presence of already assessed markers of ongoing EBOV replication in the upper and lower respiratory tract, as compared to plasma and other body compartments, in a Health Care Worker infected with EBOV in Sierra Leone, who was hospitalized in the high isolation facility of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” (INMI), Rome, Italy
Our results contribute to the knowledge on the biological features of EBOV and shed light on the potential role of respiratory compartment in humanto-human transmissibility
Summary
The Ebola virus (EBOV) Makona variant is a negative-sense RNA virus and a member of the Filoviridae. The clinical findings of the first imported case to Italy confirmed for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) have been previously reported [3,4]. [4,5,6] The second imported case to Italy was a Health Care Worker (HCW) working in an Ebola Treatment Center (ETC) in Sierra Leone. He was admitted to INMI for EVD on May 13, 2015 and was discharged in good clinical condition on June 10, 2015. We compared the levels of EBOV negative sense genomic RNA (neg-RNA) and positive sense RNA (pos-RNA), including both mRNAs and anti-genomic RNAs, as indicators of viral replication in clinical specimen of the second EVD patient treated at INMI [13,14], to explore the potential role of different body compartment in EBOV replication
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