An international team of researchers has produced a detailed picture of the latter stages of the outbreak in Sierra Leone, using real-time sequencing of Ebola virus genomes in an in-country facility which provided sequencing capability to process samples from patients in Makeni and surrounding areas in real time, without the need for sample shipment out of the country.
The sequencing facility set up by the team has now been moved to the University of Makeni, where it forms the focal point of the new UNIMAK Infectious Disease Research Laboratory. The facility is providing world-class training to local students and scientists, which has proven crucial to sequencing the recent new cases of Ebola when no international staff were present.