Application of viral genomics for the study of Ebola virus

Ebola virus (EBOV) is an enveloped, negative-stranded RNA virus, belonging to the Filoviridae family. It is responsible for the Ebola virus disease (EVD), characterized by a high mortality rate, and several outbreaks spread in West Africa. The virus is mainly transmitted via a human-to-human route and bats are considered its natural reservoir. Transcriptome analyses of specific shared variants (SVs), along with epidemiological and phylogenetic data, can be exploited to reconstruct the transmission chain of EBOV and to build up outcome-predictive models. Altogether, these approaches could be crucial for improving the epidemic management. Recent findings successfully applied gene expression analysis through deep sequencing among EVD infected individuals to identify key differences between the EDV outcomes (survival vs. death). Finally, a prominent role has been conferred to persistently EVD infected individuals as the main cause of renewed outbreaks, shedding new light on future prophylactic and therapeutic strategies.