Ebola's Silent Spread: How The Virus Hijacks Human Skin To Infect Others

Ebola, a rare yet highly fatal viral disease, continues to pose a significant threat to human health. The virus is primarily transmitted through direct contact with infected animals, particularly during preparation, cooking, or consumption. It can also spread through exposure to the bodily fluids of an infected person, such as saliva, urine, faeces, or semen. Additionally, items contaminated with these fluids, including clothing and bedding, can serve as vectors for transmission, increasing the risk of infection. Recent outbreaks, including the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, demonstrated that infectious Ebola virus (EBOV) is also found on the skin's surface of those who have succumbed to infection or at late times during infection.

As per a release by the University of Iowa, researchers at University of Iowa Health Care and colleagues at Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Boston University have traced a cellular route the virus uses to traverse the inner and outer layers of skin and emerge onto the skin's surface.

The study identifies new cell types within the skin that are targeted by EBOV during infection and shows that human skin specimens actively support EBOV infection.

Overall, the findings, which were published January 1 in Science Advances, suggest that the skin's surface may be one route of person-to-person transmission.

"The skin is the largest organ in the human body yet is woefully understudied compared to most other organs. Interactions of EBOV with skin cells have not previously been extensively examined," says Wendy Maury, Ph.D., UI professor of microbiology and immunology, and senior author of the study.

"Our work provides evidence for one mechanistic avenue that EBOV uses to exit from the human body. A comprehensive understanding of which cells are targeted during virus infection is critical for rational development of antiviral approaches."