Essentials of filoviral load quantification.
Quantitative measurement of viral load is an important parameter in the management of filovirus disease outbreaks because viral load correlates with severity of disease, survival, and infectivity. During the ongoing Ebola virus disease outbreak in parts of Western Africa, most assays used in the detection of Ebola virus disease by more than 44 diagnostic laboratories yielded qualitative results. Regulatory hurdles involved in validating quantitative assays and the urgent need for a rapid Ebola virus disease diagnosis precluded development of validated quantitative assays during the outbreak. Because of sparse quantitative data obtained from these outbreaks, opportunities for study of correlations between patient outcome, changes in viral load during the course of an outbreak, disease course in asymptomatic individuals, and the potential for virus transmission between infected patients and contacts have been limited. We strongly urge the continued development of quantitative viral load assays to carefully evaluate these parameters in future outbreaks of filovirus disease.
Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
Lieselotte
L
Cnops
Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
Johan
J
van Griensven
Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, Division of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA.
Anna N
AN
Honko
WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
Daniel G
DG
Bausch
Médecins Sans Frontières-Operational Center of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.
Armand
A
Sprecher
Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Charles E
CE
Hill
International Health Unit, Global Health Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp University, Antwerp, Belgium.
Robert
R
Colebunders
Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, Division of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA.
Joshua C
JC
Johnson
Department of Virology and Immunology, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Anthony
A
Griffiths
United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD, USA.
Gustavo F
GF
Palacios
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University Medical School, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Colleen S
CS
Kraft
National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Gary
G
Kobinger
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
Angela
A
Hewlett
United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD, USA.
David A
DA
Norwood
FAS Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Pardis
P
Sabeti
Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, Division of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA.
Peter B
PB
Jahrling
WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
Pierre
P
Formenty
Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, Division of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA.
Jens H
JH
Kuhn
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: karien@itg.be.
Kevin K
KK
Ariën
D000354:Africa, Western / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D019562:Viral Load / Q000379:methods*