Emerg Microbes Infect
December 2025
rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP and Ad26.ZEBOV, MVA-BN-Filo are WHO-prequalified vaccination regimens against Ebola virus disease (EVD). Challenges associated with measuring long-term clinical protection warrant the evaluation of immune response kinetics after vaccination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLancet Glob Health
June 2023
Background: Novel oral poliovirus vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) was administered in Liberia in response to an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in 2021. We conducted a serological survey of polio antibodies after two national campaigns with nOPV2.
Methods: This clustered, cross-sectional, population-based seroprevalence survey was conducted in children aged 0-59 months, more than 4 weeks after the second nOPV2 vaccination round.
Background: Viral load in patients with Ebola virus disease affects case fatality rate and is an important parameter used for diagnostic cutoffs, stratification in randomised controlled trials, and epidemiological studies. However, viral load in Ebola virus disease is currently estimated using numerous different assays and protocols that were not developed or validated for this purpose. Here, our aim was to conduct a laboratory-based re-evaluation of the viral loads of a large cohort of Liberian patients with Ebola virus disease and analyse these data in the broader context of the west Africa epidemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Empiric antimalarial treatment is a component of protocol-based management of Ebola virus disease (EVD), yet this approach has limited clinical evidence for patient-centered benefits.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated the association between antimalarial treatment and mortality among patients with confirmed EVD. The data was collected from five International Medical Corps operated Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) in Sierra Leone and Liberia from 2014 through 2015.
Following civil war and the Ebola epidemic, Liberia's health workforce was devastated, essential health services and primary care were disrupted, and health outcomes for maternal and child mortality were amongst the worst in the world. To reverse these trends, the government of Liberia developed the . With the goal of building a resilient and responsive health system to ensure access to essential services and the ability to respond to future crises, this strategy aimed to add 6,000 new professionals to the workforce.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring the initial phase of the 2014-2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Monrovia, Liberia, all hospitals' isolation capacities were overwhelmed by the sheer caseload. As a stop-gap measure to halt transmission, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) distributed household disinfection kits to those who were at high risk of EVD contamination. The kit contained chlorine and personal protective materials to be used for the care of a sick person or the handling of a dead body.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA isolate was cultured from the blood of a fatal Ebola virus disease (EVD) case in Liberia and was identified by whole genome sequencing. Although has only recently been described and is poorly characterized, this case may represent the bacterial co-infection of an EVD patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Micronutrient supplementation is recommended in Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) care; however, there is limited data on its therapeutic effects.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients with EVD admitted to five Ebola Treatment Units (ETU) in Sierra Leone and Liberia during September 2014 to December 2015. A uniform protocol was used to guide ETU care, however, due to supply limitations, only a subset of patients received multivitamins.
Objective: To evaluate the association between oral third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic treatment and mortality in Ebola virus disease (EVD).
Methods: This retrospective cohort studied EVD-infected patients admitted to five Ebola Treatment Units in Sierra Leone and Liberia during 2014-15. Empiric treatment with cefixime 400 mg once daily for five days was the clinical protocol; however, due to resource variability, only a subset of patients received treatment.
Introduction: The 2014-2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Liberia highlighted the importance of robust preparedness measures for a well-coordinated response; the initially delayed response contributed to the steep incidence of cases, infections among health care workers, and a collapse of the health care system. To strengthen local capacity and combat disease transmission, various healthcare worker (HCW) trainings, including the Ebola treatment unit (ETU) training, safe & quality services (SQS) training and rapid response team (RRT), were developed and implemented between 2014 and 2017.
Methods: Data from the ETU, SQS and RRT trainings were analyzed to determine knowledge and confidence gained.
Background: Experiments in vitro have shown that the drug amodiaquine may inhibit Ebola virus activity. During the Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa in 2014-2016, 2 mass drug administrations (MDAs) of artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) were implemented to decrease the burden of malaria. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of the ASAQ MDAs on the mortality of patients with EVD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Micronutrient supplementation is recommended in Ebola virus disease (EVD); however, there are limited data on therapeutic impacts of specific micronutrients.
Objective: To evaluate the association between vitamin A supplementation and mortality in EVD.
Methods: This retrospective cohort included patients with EVD admitted to 5 International Medical Corps Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) in 2 countries during 2014-2015.
Background: Intravenous fluid (IVF) is a frequently recommended intervention in Ebola virus disease (EVD), yet its impact on patient outcomes remains unclear.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated patients with EVD admitted to 5 Ebola treatment units (ETUs) in West Africa. The primary outcome was the difference in 28-day survival between cases treated and not treated with IVF.
The recent large outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Western Africa resulted in greatly increased accumulation of human genotypic, phenotypic and clinical data, and improved our understanding of the spectrum of clinical manifestations. As a result, the WHO disease classification of EVD underwent major revision.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Fluid loss during Ebola virus disease (EVD) infections from gastrointestinal dysfunction leads to volume depletion. It is possible that high environmental temperatures may exacerbate volume depletion or interfere with the provision of medical care by providers in full personal protective equipment. We investigated the effect of environmental temperature on case fatality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 2014-16 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa highlighted the necessity for readily available, accurate and rapid diagnostics. The magnitude of the outbreak and the re-emergence of clusters of EVD cases following the declaration of interrupted transmission in Liberia, reinforced the need for sustained diagnostics to support surveillance and emergency preparedness. We describe implementation of the Xpert Ebola Assay, a rapid molecular diagnostic test run on the GeneXpert platform, at a mobile laboratory in Liberia and the subsequent impact on EVD outbreak response, case management and laboratory system strengthening.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEbola virus is known to persist in semen of male survivors of Ebola virus disease (EVD). However, maximum duration of, or risk factors for, virus persistence are unknown. We report an EVD survivor with preexisting HIV infection, whose semen was positive for Ebola virus RNA 565 days after recovery from EVD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo better understand the impact of national and global efforts to contain the Ebola virus disease epidemic of 2014–15 in Liberia, we provide a detailed timeline of the major interventions and relate them to the epidemic curve. In addition to personal experience in the response, we systematically reviewed situation reports from the Liberian government, UN, CDC, WHO, UNICEF, IFRC, USAID, and local and international news reports to create the timeline. We extracted data on the timing and nature of activities and compared them to the timeline of the epidemic curve using the reproduction number—the estimate of the average number of new cases caused by a single case.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the course of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that was witnessed since early 2014, the response mechanisms showed deficits in terms of timeliness, volume and adequacy. The authors were deployed in the Ebola campaign in the West African country Liberia, where by September 2014 the changing epidemiological pattern made reconsiderations of guidelines and adopted procedures necessary. A temporary facility set up as a conventional Ebola Treatment Unit in the Liberian capital Monrovia was re-dedicated into a Severe Infections Temporary Treatment Unit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF