1. Nomenclature- and Database-Compatible Names for the Two Ebola Virus Variants that Emerged in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2014
- Author
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Jens H. Kuhn, Kristian G. Andersen, Sylvain Baize, Yīmíng Bào, Sina Bavari, Nicolas Berthet, Olga Blinkova, J. Rodney Brister, Anna N. Clawson, Joseph Fair, Martin Gabriel, Robert F. Garry, Stephen K. Gire, Augustine Goba, Jean-Paul Gonzalez, Stephan Günther, Christian T. Happi, Peter B. Jahrling, Jimmy Kapetshi, Gary Kobinger, Jeffrey R. Kugelman, Eric M. Leroy, Gael Darren Maganga, Placide K. Mbala, Lina M. Moses, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, Magassouba N'Faly, Stuart T. Nichol, Sunday A. Omilabu, Gustavo Palacios, Daniel J. Park, Janusz T. Paweska, Sheli R. Radoshitzky, Cynthia A. Rossi, Pardis C. Sabeti, John S. Schieffelin, Randal J. Schoepp, Rachel Sealfon, Robert Swanepoel, Jonathan S. Towner, Jiro Wada, Nadia Wauquier, Nathan L. Yozwiak, and Pierre Formenty
- Subjects
Ebola ,Ebola virus ,ebolavirus ,filovirid ,Filoviridae ,filovirus ,genome annotation ,Lomela ,Lokolia ,Makona ,mononegavirad ,Mononegavirales ,mononegavirus ,virus classification ,virus isolate ,virus nomenclature ,virus strain ,virus taxonomy ,virus variant ,Microbiology ,QR1-502 - Abstract
In 2014, Ebola virus (EBOV) was identified as the etiological agent of a large and still expanding outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa and a much more confined EVD outbreak in Middle Africa. Epidemiological and evolutionary analyses confirmed that all cases of both outbreaks are connected to a single introduction each of EBOV into human populations and that both outbreaks are not directly connected. Coding-complete genomic sequence analyses of isolates revealed that the two outbreaks were caused by two novel EBOV variants, and initial clinical observations suggest that neither of them should be considered strains. Here we present consensus decisions on naming for both variants (West Africa: “Makona”, Middle Africa: “Lomela”) and provide database-compatible full, shortened, and abbreviated names that are in line with recently established filovirus sub-species nomenclatures.
- Published
- 2014
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