Molecular Evidence of Sexual Transmission of Ebola Virus

N Engl J Med. 2015 Dec 17;373(25):2448-54. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1509773. Epub 2015 Oct 14.

Abstract

A suspected case of sexual transmission from a male survivor of Ebola virus disease (EVD) to his female partner (the patient in this report) occurred in Liberia in March 2015. Ebola virus (EBOV) genomes assembled from blood samples from the patient and a semen sample from the survivor were consistent with direct transmission. The genomes shared three substitutions that were absent from all other Western African EBOV sequences and that were distinct from the last documented transmission chain in Liberia before this case. Combined with epidemiologic data, the genomic analysis provides evidence of sexual transmission of EBOV and evidence of the persistence of infective EBOV in semen for 179 days or more after the onset of EVD. (Funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and others.).

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Coitus
  • Ebolavirus / genetics*
  • Ebolavirus / isolation & purification
  • Female
  • Genome, Viral
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / transmission*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / virology
  • Humans
  • Liberia
  • Male
  • RNA, Viral / blood
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Semen / virology*
  • Unsafe Sex

Substances

  • RNA, Viral