title: Detection of Viral RNA in Tissues following Plasma Clearance from an Ebola Virus Infected Patient.
abstract: An unprecedented Ebola virus (EBOV) epidemic occurred in 2013-2016 in West Africa. Over this time the epidemic exponentially grew and moved to Europe and North America, with several imported cases and many Health Care Workers (HCW) infected. Better understanding of EBOV infection patterns in different body compartments is mandatory to develop new countermeasures, as well as to fully comprehend the pathways of human-to-human transmission. We have longitudinally explored the persistence of EBOV-specific negative sense genomic RNA (neg-RNA) and the presence of positive sense RNA (pos-RNA), including both replication intermediate (antigenomic-RNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, in the upper and lower respiratory tract, as compared to plasma, in a HCW infected with EBOV in Sierra Leone, who was hospitalized in the high isolation facility of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" (INMI), Rome, Italy. We observed persistence of pos-RNA and neg-RNAs in longitudinally collected specimens of the lower respiratory tract, even after viral clearance from plasma, suggesting possible local replication. The purpose of the present study is to enhance the knowledge on the biological features of EBOV that can contribute to the human-to-human transmissibility and to develop effective intervention strategies. However, further investigation is needed in order to better understand the clinical meaning of viral replication and shedding in the respiratory tract.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Mirella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biava
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caglioti
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Licia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bordi
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castilletti
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Colavita
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quartu
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nicastri
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.|International Public Health Crisis Group (IPHCG).
authors.forename: Francesco Nicola
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Lauria
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petrosillo
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.|International Public Health Crisis Group (IPHCG).
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lanini
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal HealthInsel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5829-6305
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoenen
authors.affiliation: Research Centre on Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec Canada.|International Public Health Crisis Group (IPHCG).
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kobinger
authors.affiliation: University College London and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.|International Public Health Crisis Group (IPHCG).
authors.forename: Alimuddin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zumla
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.|International Public Health Crisis Group (IPHCG).
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Caro
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.|International Public Health Crisis Group (IPHCG).
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ippolito
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Capobianchi
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lalle
mesh_terms: D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000235:genetics; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral