Authors: Martha Powell, Future Science Group
Two years after Ebola infection, survivors exhibit immune responses, including specific memory T cells against ebolavirus, according to new research presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID; 13–16 April, Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Targeting these immune cells could help improve Ebola vaccines, as they might correlate with long-term, protective immunity.
Previous research indicates that robust immune responses are associated with a better prognosis in individuals with Ebola, however, preventative efforts have been hindered by a lack of knowledge about how a protective immune response is generated.
To investigate this, the researchers examined how the immune system had responded to Ebola 2 years post-infection in 35 adult survivors from the PostEboGui study – an observational cohort of 802 survivors from the 2013–2016 outbreak who have cleared the virus.
