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Immunoglobulin G in Ebola Outbreak Survivors, Gabon

2009; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Volume: 15; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3201/eid1507.090402

1080-6059

Nadia Wauquier, Pierre Becquart, C Gasquet, Eric M. Leroy,

Disaster Response and Management

To the Editor: Three well-documented outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever occurred from 1996 through 2001 in Gabon in central Africa (1).All were caused by the highly pathogenic species Zaire ebolavirus, which is associated with an ≈80% case-fatality rate.The first outbreak hit Mayibout, a village in northeast Gabon in January and February 1996, causing 31 cases and 21 deaths.The first victims were children who helped carry and butcher a chimpanzee carcass found in the forest.The second outbreak lasted from October 1996 through March 1997 and occurred in the Booué region, about 150 km southwest of Mayibout, Gabon.The outbreak area was located along a trunk road and railroad track, and the infection spread to several villages around Booué, then to Libreville, the capital of Gabon, where 15 cases were recorded.The third outbreak occurred October 2001 through May 2002 in the Mekambo area, about 150 km from Mayibout in the east (2).This outbreak consisted of several independent chains of human transmission arising from infected animal carcasses, mainly chimpanzees and gorillas.It caused 65 cases and 53 deaths and coincided with major outbreaks in great apes that decimated wild populations (3,4).A total of 207 human cases were recorded during these 3 outbreaks; 149 persons died.Of the fatal and nonfatal cases 31 and 24, respectively, were confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-PCR, antigen detection, and immunoglobulin (Ig) G ELISA at Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF) in Gabon.Because of the lack of available samples from survivors, little is known about the duration of IgG antibody response.However, studies of 20 survivors convalescing after the 1995 Kikwit outbreak in the Demo-