Evidence of latency reshapes our understanding of Ebola virus reservoir dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Ebola virus (EBOV) has caused severe outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever in Central and West Africa since the first observed zoonotic epidemic in the late 1970s. While recent outbreaks have revealed much about the epidemiological dynamics that sustain human-to-human transmission, the mechanisms by which the virus persists between outbreaks are unknown. Previously, phylogenetic approaches have been used to characterise the EBOV reservoir from the evolutionary relationships among observed human outbreaks. We here employ a novel phylogenetic latency model - inspired by recent observations of extreme EBOV evolutionary rate heterogeneity in humans - to characterise the natural history of EBOV and by extension its reservoir. We find the prevailing model of EBOV reservoir dynamics is deficient, and t

SUBMITTER: McCrone JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12632977 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature