Sequencing genetic material from the blood of 179 Ebola patient blood samples has provided insights into the epidemiological and evolutionary course of the current Ebola epidemic. The analysis confirms the path that different viral lineages took through the human populations of West Africa. These findings are important because they can be used in conjunction with epidemiological data to retrospectively test the effectiveness of Ebola control measures.
For this study, viral genomes were sequenced from blood samples of Ebola infected patients. Each sample was linked to the following data: patient location, sample collection date, disease onset, and disease outcome. The median collection date was four days after the onset of symptoms. The viral gene sequence was derived from RNA sequencing of patient samples (Ebola is an RNA virus).
