OA research in the news: Ebola outbreak linked to funeral

In a study published last week, researchers including MIT Biology professor Eric Lander show that this year’s explosive Ebola outbreak in West Africa possibly stemmed from the burial of a traditional healer at which 14 women were infected. Scientists sequenced the Ebola virus from 78 patients treated in Sierra Leone and found that the virus for all 78 could be traced to funeral guests. They also determined that the current Ebola strain is genetically distinct from a previous strain circulating elsewhere in Africa. This information could help scientists and public health officials determine which diagnostic tests and drugs may be most effective on the infection. Five authors on the study, all staff members at a hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone, died of Ebola before the paper was published.

Explore Professor Lander’s research in the Open Access Articles collection in DSpace@MIT, where it is openly accessible to the world.

Since the MIT faculty established their Open Access Policy in March 2009 they have made thousands of research papers freely available to the world via DSpace@MIT. To highlight that research, we’re offering a series of blog posts that link news stories about scholars’ work to their open access papers in DSpace.