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West Africa suffered the most severe outbreak of Ebola ever recorded. In Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, a total of 29,000 patients were diagnosed with the disease. More than 11,000 people didn’t survive. Researchers from the Rega Institute at KU Leuven mapped the spread of the Ebola virus in West-Africa between 2013 and 2016.
Professor Guy Baele and his colleague created a genetic family tree of the epidemic, in time as well as space, with the oldest DNA sample from early 2014 in Guinea.They connected the family tree of the epidemic to other information, like geographical information and transportation.
Long-distance transportation, such as air travel by contaminated people, doesn’t appear to have been important in spreading the virus.
Contrary to what happens during a flu epidemic, the Ebola epidemic spread due to short-distance travelling. The epidemic stepped up its pace once the virus had reached Conakry, Freetown and Monrovia – the capitals of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, respectively. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have each closed their international borders at a different moment in time.
These interventions are visible in the phylogenetic tree of the Ebola virus and how the virus continued to evolve afterwards. Closing the borders was an effective way to prevent Ebola from becoming an international epidemic. That’s important to know, as this type of intervention strategy obviously has major economic and social consequences. You can slow down Ebola by cooperating with the health officials, do not spreading the virus if you are infected, use your drugs correctly and stay at the approved isolation centers.
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