新的压力恐惧随着新鲜埃博拉疫情的出现

科学家担心，如果该疾病的两个版本混合在一起形成一个新的，潜在的致命版本，那么刚果民主共和国可能会出现新的埃博拉菌株。

埃博拉病毒是一种高度传染性的传染病，死亡率约为50％。在过去的十年中，非洲各地发生了多次爆发。

刚果民主共和国政府今天（星期四）宣布终止东部爆发 - 该国的第十 - 但世界卫生组织董事泰德罗斯·阿德霍诺姆·盖布雷耶斯（Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus）警告说，这种压力的“仍然有潜力”，呼吁快速回应团队留在原地。

“[P]opulation migration … can mean the two strains undergo viral recombination, which can lead to a completely new strain and which can cause examples of [drug] resistance to appear.”

卢本巴西大学微生物学家ÉricKasamba。

然而，as of 20 June,There have been 13 deaths and 23 cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) reported in five health zones in the northwestern Équateur Province, after the first deaths were announced in the province capital Mbandaka at the beginning of June.

The WHO本月初宣布(9 June) that the outbreak in the northwest of the country was genetically unrelated to the version that has caused an outbreak in the east of the country since 2018, raising fears that the two strains might combine.

"The one thing you have to think about in particular is the potential of population migration which can mean the two strains undergo viral recombination, which can lead to a completely new strain and which can cause examples of [drug] resistance to appear,” says Éric Kasamba, a microbiologist at the DRC’s University of Lubumbashi.

他说，重中之重应该是确定西北菌株的来源，因为这将有助于解决这一差异。

“Right now, research should focus on the identification of the reservoir of this new strain because if we identify this reservoir we can decontaminate the animals,” he said.

Even though the eastern outbreak has been declared over, officials say there is still a risk of further flare-ups.

Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director-general of the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, says: “In the east we have a large number of people that have recovered and also they’re a potential source of transmitting this disease sexually.”

预计将建立研究团队来监视1100个埃博拉病毒幸存者，尤其是男性。

西北埃博拉病毒菌株的出现也提出了一个问题，即埃博拉幸存者是否可以再次感染该疾病。研究表明，根据美国疾病控制和预防中心的数据，幸存者开发了可以持续10年（可能更长的）抗体，但尚不清楚人们是否可以感染Adifferent species of Ebola virus.
DRC public health minister Eteni Longondo says communities in the northwest are educating each other about prevention measures to stop the spread and they want to receive the recently-created Ebola vaccine.

但是,Longondo说,“问题是,这种disease is migrating … now it can be found in other villages”. These villages are remote and difficult to access, though not densely populated.

而新的埃博拉病毒迪斯汀ct from that found in North Kivu and Ituri, in the east, WHO and government health experts say lessons learnt from the eastern outbreak can inform the response in the northwest. "There is a vaccine that is already there. I think there is a way to use it to protect the population,” Kasamba says.

他认为这11个^ThDRC爆发会更容易，因为埃博拉病毒的治疗方法是众所周知的。他补充说：“尽管基因型差异，但医疗反应的基础仍将接近，因为它是同一疾病。”

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa French and Global editions.