title: Recurrence and reinfection--a new paradigm for the management of Ebola virus disease.
abstract: Ebola virus disease (EVD) is an understudied infection and many aspects of viral transmission and clinical course remain unclear. With over 17000 EVD survivors in West Africa, the World Health Organization has focused its strategy on managing survivors and the risk of re-emergence of outbreaks posed by persistence of the virus during convalescence. Sexual transmission from survivors has also been documented following the 2014 epidemic and there are documented cases of survivors readmitted to hospital with 'recurrence' of EVD symptoms. In addition to persistence of virus in survivors, there is also some evidence for 'reinfection' with Ebola virus. In this paper, the evidence for recurrence and reinfection of EVD and implications for epidemic control are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Samuels Building, Room 325, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: r.macintyre@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: C Raina
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: MacIntyre
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Samuels Building, Room 325, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Abrar Ahmad
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Chughtai
mesh_terms: D000354:Africa, Western / Q000453:epidemiology; D003289:Convalescence; D019468:Disease Management; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000502:physiology*; D006282:Health Personnel; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D012008:Recurrence; D017741:Survivors; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: Body fluids; Ebola; Healthcare workers; Infection control; Recurrence; Reinfection