WHO-LED COLLABORATIVE STUDY IN COTE D'IVOIRE TO IDENTIFY NATURAL HOST RESERVOIR OF EBOLA VIRUS
Press Release
H/2890
WHO-LED COLLABORATIVE STUDY IN COTE D'IVOIRE TO IDENTIFY NATURAL HOST RESERVOIR OF EBOLA VIRUS
19951215 GENEVA, 15 December 1995 (World Health Organization) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) is leading a new collaborative two-year study project in the Tai Forest region of Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa aimed at identifying the natural host reservoir of the deadly Ebola virus. The first consultative meeting of the project team is taking place today at WHO headquarters.The project team will involve representatives of virtually every laboratory facility in the world enumerated below, that is capable of safely handling the Ebola virus for study, and in particular hopes to promote better Intra-European cooperation on the issue.
The Ebola virus is one of the most pathogenic viral agents known to man, causing death in 80 per cent or more of infected cases. Identifying the natural host of Ebola is the key to identifying its mode of transmission, which would help predict when and where Ebola outbreaks are most likely to occur and what behaviour modifications could prevent its transmission.
Intensive efforts were made to trace Ebola back to its natural source following the outbreak in Zaire earlier this year, but results are not yet fully available. The Tai Forest of Cote d'Ivoire is considered to be a more conducive site for such an investigation, as it is a well-defined ecosystem that has been extensively studied and one where the disease is known to be present.
A new sub-type of the Ebola virus was isolated from a Swiss primate researcher who works with chimpanzees in the Tai Forest, and who is thought to have been infected in late 1994 while performing an autopsy on a dead chimpanzee from which the same Ebola sub-type was isolated.
The results of the research by the Swiss-Ivoirian ethology team of which the infected researcher was a member will provide the basis for the new WHO- led project. This focus of investigation is the relationship among primates, other vertebrates, arthropods and perhaps humans living in the region of the Tai Forest. Among the closest contacts of the chimpanzees are Colobus monkeys, which serve as a major food source for the chimpanzees.
- 2 - Press Release H/2890 15 December 1995
Participants in this first Informal Working Group on Ebola Virus Infection are:
Dr. H. Artsob, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada, Ottawa; Dr. C. Boesch, Institute of Zoology, University of Basel, Switzerland; Dr. A. Diarranama, Direction de la Sante Communautaire, Cote d'Ivoire; Dr. H. Feldmann, Philipps University Marburg, Institute of Virology, Marburg, Germany; Dr. P.B.H. Formenty, Central Laboratory for Animal Pathology, Bingerville, Cote d'Ivoire; Dr. B. LeGuenno, National Centre for Viral Haemorrhagic Diseases, Institute Pasteur, Paris; Dr. M.P. Kiley, Federal Laboratories for Health Canada, and Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Manitoba; Dr. T.G. Ksiazek, Special Pathogens Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States; Dr. B. Niklasson, Swedish Institute for Infectious Diseases, Stockholm; Dr. E. Tkachenko, Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitis, Moscow; and Dr. G. Van der Groen, Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine, Medical Service, Antwerp, Belgium.
The meeting also involves the participation of seven WHO staff, including four from headquarters and three from the African region. They are: Dr. Diego Buriot (Abidjan), Dr. Deogratias Barakamfitiye (Brazzaville), Karin Esteves (Geneva), Dr. James Le Duc (Geneva), Dr. Lindsay Martinez (Geneva), Dr. Francois-Xavier Meslin (Geneva) and Dr. Kadri Tankari (Brazzaville).
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