Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
29 January 2015 Last updated at 00:55 ET
Ebola outbreak: Virus mutating, scientists warn
By Tulip Mazumdar
Global health reporter
Scientists tracking the Ebola outbreak in Guinea say the virus has mutated.
Researchers at the Institut Pasteur in France, which first identified the outbreak last March, are investigating whether it could have become more contagious.
...
They are tracking how the virus is changing and trying to establish whether it's able to jump more easily from person to person
"We know the virus is changing quite a lot," said human geneticist Dr Anavaj Sakuntabhai.
...
It's not unusual for viruses to change over a period time. Ebola is an RNA virus - like HIV and influenza - which have a high rate of mutation. That makes the virus more able to adapt and raises the potential for it to become more contagious.
"We've now seen several cases that don't have any symptoms at all, asymptomatic cases," said Anavaj Sakuntabhai.
"These people may be the people who can spread the virus better, but we still don't know that yet. A virus can change itself to less deadly, but more contagious and that's something we are afraid of."
...
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31019097
Ebola outbreak: Virus mutating, scientists warn
By Tulip Mazumdar
Global health reporter
Scientists tracking the Ebola outbreak in Guinea say the virus has mutated.
Researchers at the Institut Pasteur in France, which first identified the outbreak last March, are investigating whether it could have become more contagious.
...
They are tracking how the virus is changing and trying to establish whether it's able to jump more easily from person to person
"We know the virus is changing quite a lot," said human geneticist Dr Anavaj Sakuntabhai.
...
It's not unusual for viruses to change over a period time. Ebola is an RNA virus - like HIV and influenza - which have a high rate of mutation. That makes the virus more able to adapt and raises the potential for it to become more contagious.
"We've now seen several cases that don't have any symptoms at all, asymptomatic cases," said Anavaj Sakuntabhai.
"These people may be the people who can spread the virus better, but we still don't know that yet. A virus can change itself to less deadly, but more contagious and that's something we are afraid of."
...
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31019097