The strain of Ebola virus that has killed more than 8,000 people and infected more than 21,000 in West Africa is now mutating and might affect the current research on experimental drugs, says a report from researchers on Tuesday.
Viruses are very virulent and have the capacity to mutate and change over time. Just like the flu virus that has spread in the United States, current vaccines were not as effective because of the mutation of virus.
According to the study as reported by NBC News, they discovered about 10 new mutations that might evade current experimental treatment and medicines for Ebola. There is still no drug to treat it and vaccine to prevent it. While the development of medicines for the Ebola in West Africa continues, these medications might not work on the virus once it has already mutated.
Researchers therefore recommend testing experimental drugs like ZMapp on the current strain to make sure that it will still work. "Based on our findings, the virus has changed and is continuing to change," said Jeffrey Kugelman, a viral geneticist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and lead researcher of the study.
Of course, all viruses mutate one time in their existence and from one outbreak to another. There are instances that viruses mutate into more potent types. The Ebola virus that had infected more than 21,000 people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is called Ebola virus Makona variant.
However, when they compared these strains to samples of Ebola Zaire, they found out around 600 mutations. Pharmaceutical companies have already started developing vaccines and drugs against Ebola decades ago. So, the base strain they were studying may not be the one infecting people in West Africa now. It has mutated.
The main concern of the researchers was the 10 mutations that can affect parts of the virus targeted by medicines. "Their efficacy should be reevaluated against the currently circulating strain," he added.
Researchers from USAMRIID, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, discovered that about 3% of the genome of the current strain of Ebola virus in West Africa contained changes compared to those strains in the past outbreaks of Ebola.
Kugelman reiterated, "Ebola researchers need to assess drug efficacy in a timely manner to make sure that valuable resources are not spent developing therapies that no longer work."
