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. 2014 Nov 24;6(11):4760-99.
doi: 10.3390/v6114760.

Nomenclature- and database-compatible names for the two Ebola virus variants that emerged in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2014

Jens H Kuhn  1 , Kristian G Andersen  2 , Sylvain Baize  3 , Yīmíng Bào  4 , Sina Bavari  5 , Nicolas Berthet  6 , Olga Blinkova  7 , J Rodney Brister  8 , Anna N Clawson  9 , Joseph Fair  10 , Martin Gabriel  11 , Robert F Garry  12 , Stephen K Gire  13 , Augustine Goba  14 , Jean-Paul Gonzalez  15 , Stephan Günther  16 , Christian T Happi  17 , Peter B Jahrling  18 , Jimmy Kapetshi  19 , Gary Kobinger  20 , Jeffrey R Kugelman  21 , Eric M Leroy  22 , Gael Darren Maganga  23 , Placide K Mbala  24 , Lina M Moses  25 , Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum  26 , Magassouba N'Faly  27 , Stuart T Nichol  28 , Sunday A Omilabu  29 , Gustavo Palacios  30 , Daniel J Park  31 , Janusz T Paweska  32 , Sheli R Radoshitzky  33 , Cynthia A Rossi  34 , Pardis C Sabeti  35 , John S Schieffelin  36 , Randal J Schoepp  37 , Rachel Sealfon  38 , Robert Swanepoel  39 , Jonathan S Towner  40 , Jiro Wada  41 , Nadia Wauquier  42 , Nathan L Yozwiak  43 , Pierre Formenty  44
Affiliations

Nomenclature- and database-compatible names for the two Ebola virus variants that emerged in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2014

Jens H Kuhn et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

In 2014, Ebola virus (EBOV) was identified as the etiological agent of a large and still expanding outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa and a much more confined EVD outbreak in Middle Africa. Epidemiological and evolutionary analyses confirmed that all cases of both outbreaks are connected to a single introduction each of EBOV into human populations and that both outbreaks are not directly connected. Coding-complete genomic sequence analyses of isolates revealed that the two outbreaks were caused by two novel EBOV variants, and initial clinical observations suggest that neither of them should be considered strains. Here we present consensus decisions on naming for both variants (West Africa: "Makona", Middle Africa: "Lomela") and provide database-compatible full, shortened, and abbreviated names that are in line with recently established filovirus sub-species nomenclatures.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of the Makona River.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Location of the Lomela River.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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