Five co-authors of the latest study on Ebola were killed by
the virus before their research was published, highlighting
the huge risks undertaken by those working to combat its
spread.
The study, published on Thursday, discovered the virus has
mutated many times during the outbreak in West Africa,
making establishing a treatment more difficult.
Mbalu Fonnie, Alex Moigboi, Alice Kovoma, Mohamed
Fullah and Sheik Umar Khan worked with lead researchers
at Harvard University to examine the current outbreak.
Science Mag said all five were experienced members of the
Kenema Government Hospital’s Lassa fever team. Lassa
fever infections have similar symptoms to Ebola.
Their work sequenced the virus genomes from 78 patients
and traced the outbreak in Sierra Leone to a funeral of a
healer, which a pregnant Kenema Government Hospital
Ebola patient and other women who were also infected had
attended.
Two months before his death, Khan had described the
dangers of treating people with the disease, telling Reuters
he feared for his life.
