Comprehensive Profiling of Immune Responses in MARV Survivors Demonstrates Robust Th1-Skewing with Short-Lived Neutralizing Antibody Responses

Abstract : The genera Marburgvirus and Ebolavirus comprise the family Filoviridae, which contains the etiological agents that cause Marburg virus disease and Ebola virus disease, respectively. Ebola virus (EBOV) recently caused an outbreak of truly unprecedented scale, spanning two years and infecting more than 28,000 individuals. Previously, the largest filovirus outbreaks had numbered in the tens to hundreds. While EBOV is responsible for the greatest number of human filovirus infections, Marburg virus (MARV), Sudan virus (SUDV), and Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) have all caused outbreaks that numbered over 100 cases twice, in the cases of MARV and SUDV. EBOV may garner much of the attention, but it is only one of several filoviruses that could potentially kindle outbreaks of massive scale. To date, there have been 11 incidences of MARV transmission to the human population. While many outbreaks have been of limited scale, afflicting fewer than 5 individuals per instance, two outbreaks alone account for 406 cases of MARV infections that had fatality rates of 83 and 90 (Bausch et al., 2006; Towner et al., 2006).