A group of women in west Africa appear to be naturally immune to ebola.
The women had many chances to catch the highly contagious virus while working with sufferers at the height of the epidemic in Guinea. However, a team of British and European scientists found they had never succumbed.
“These are phenomenal women who have had a horrendous story to tell. They have had lots of contact with the virus — clearing up vomit, diarrhoea, sleeping with children with ebola overnight, and they never presented with ebola symptoms and somehow they have an immune response to the virus,” said Miles Carroll, a virologist and head of research at Public Health England’s national infection service.
The researchers looked at 60 women, 25 of whom live in Guéckédou, believed to be the town where the epidemic began. One of those women had ebola antibodies despite never having contracted the virus.
“We tested her blood eight months later and she had a phenomenally strong neutralising antibody response to ebola,” Professor Carroll told The Guardian. “It may be that these people are genetically unique and have an innate response strong enough to fight ebola before it can get a foothold.”