News Release: NML Scientists Make Important Ebola Discovery

Scientists at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) have made a significant discovery which will bring researchers one step closer to understanding the triggers which cause the Ebola virus to jump from an infected animal to humans.

This discovery will help scientists develop strategies to prevent the initial spread of the virus from animals to humans, and to help avert outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in humans.

The Ebola virus is responsible for causing a highly contagious and often fatal viral hemorrhagic fever in humans. Up to 90% of patients infected with this disease die, and there is no known treatment or vaccine. The Ebola virus is believed to be transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals, and then spread between people by direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of infected persons.

Working alongside researchers from the University of Manitoba and the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, Canadian scientists have discovered the Ebola virus will live in an animal host, like a bat, causing a low level infection, until the right conditions occur to replicate and spread to a new animal host, such as a gorilla, monkey or human.

The study “Stimulation of Ebola virus production from persistent infection through activation of the Ras/MAPK Pathway” is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and is available on their web site:  www.pnas.org

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) was established in 2004 to help Canadians achieve better health and well-being through the prevention of chronic disease and injury, promotion of good health, and protection from infectious diseases and other major health threats. PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory is Canada’s leading public health infectious disease laboratory responsible for the identification, control and prevention of infectious diseases. For more information about PHAC, please visit: www.publichealth.gc.ca