Ebola virus not mutating as quickly as thought

SCIENCE NEWS  by Ashley Yaeger                                                      March 26, 2015

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The virus causing the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa is not evolving as quickly as some scientists had suggested.

REGULAR RATE  A genetic analysis suggests that the Ebola virus, shown here in orange, is not evolving as fast as expected.

In a paper last August, researchers reported that the virus (Zaire ebolavirus) was altering its genes almost twice as fast as it had during previous Ebola outbreaks in Central Africa (SN: 9/20/14, p. 7). However, a new genetic analysis shows that the virus is mutating at roughly the same rate as in past outbreaks, researchers report online March 26 in Science. The finding suggests the virus has not become more virulent or transmissible during the West Africa outbreak.

In the new study, an international team of researchers determined the entire genetic instruction manuals of eight Zaire ebolavirus strains taken from Ebola patients infected in Mali in October and November 2014...
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https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ebola-virus-not-mutating-quickly-thought?tgt=nr
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SCIENCE EXPRESS
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2015/03/25/science.aaa5646.full.pdf