For those who may be interested the currently circulating Ebola strains do appear to include a significant mutation of a strain. We are dealing with something new.
The following extract from an article by Gretchen Vogel published in
Science magazine refers.
" The analysis reveals that the outbreak in Sierra Leone was sparked by at least two distinct viruses, introduced from Guinea at about the same time. It is unclear whether the herbalist was infected with both variants, or whether perhaps another funeral attendee was independently infected. One Ebola virus lineage disappears from patient samples taken later in the outbreak, while a third lineage appears. That lineage—tied to a nurse who was traveling to reach a hospital but died along the way—seems to have originated when
one of the lineages present at the funeral gained a new mutation. This third lineage was spread, Garry says, via a truck driver who transported the nurse, as well as others who cared for her in the town where she died."
I have to repeat that the infection rate maths for West and Central Africa are looking very bad and the global impact may be very bad .... notwithstanding the inability of this virus to take hold in countries with better hygiene and government response capacity.
