Journal
PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES
Volume 13, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007654
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Funding
- AMED [JP17fm0208101j0001]
- RPERID from AMED [JP17fk018029h0001]
- MEXT [16H06429, 16K21723, 16H06434]
- JSPS
- Global Health Institute at UW-Madison
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [16H06434] Funding Source: KAKEN
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The 2013-2016 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa was the largest and deadliest outbreak to date. Here we conducted a serological study to examine the antibody levels in survivors and the seroconversion in close contacts who took care of Ebola-infected individuals, but did not develop symptoms of Ebola virus disease. In March 2017, we collected blood samples from 481 individuals in Makeni, Sierra Leone: 214 survivors and 267 close contacts. Using commercial, quantitative ELISAs, we tested the plasma for IgG-specific antibodies against three major viral antigens: GP, the only viral glycoprotein expressed on the virus surface; NP, the most abundant viral protein; and VP40, a major structural protein of Zaire ebolavirus. We also determined neutralizing antibody titers. In the cohort of Ebola survivors, 97.7% of samples (209/214) had measurable antibody levels against GP, NP, and/or VP40. Of these positive samples, all but one had measurable neutralizing antibody titers against Ebola virus. For the close contacts, up to 12.7% (34/267) may have experienced a subclinical virus infection as indicated by detectable antibodies against GP. Further investigation is warranted to determine whether these close contacts truly experienced subclinical infections and whether these asymptomatic infections played a role in the dynamics of transmission.
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