Seven years after the declaration of the first epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Guinea, the country faced a new outbreak-between 14 February and 19 June 2021-near the epicentre of the previous epidemic 1,2 . Here we use next-generation sequencing to generate complete or near-complete genomes of Zaire ebolavirus from samples obtained from 12 different patients. These genomes form a well-supported phylogenetic cluster with genomes from the previous outbreak, which indicates that the new outbreak was not the result of a new spillover event from an animal reservoir. The 2021 lineage shows considerably lower divergence than would be expected during sustained human-to-human transmission, which suggests a persistent infection with reduced replication or a period of latency. The resurgence of Zaire ebolavirus from humans five years after the end of the previous outbreak of Ebola virus disease reinforces the need for long-term medical and social care for patients who survive the disease, to reduce the risk of re-emergence and to prevent further stigmatization.At least 30 outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD) have been identified since the late 1970s, the most severe of which affected Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from December 2013 to June 2016 1,2 . Guinea experienced a new outbreak of EVD in 2021, which started in Gouéké-a town about 200 km away from the epicentre of the 2013-2016 outbreak. The probable index case was a 51-year-old nurse, an assistant of the hospital midwife in Gouéké. On 21 January 2021, she was admitted to hospital in Gouéké suffering from headache, asthenia, nausea, anorexia, vertigo and abdominal pain. She was diagnosed with malaria and salmonellosis and was released two days later. Feeling ill again once at home, she attended a private clinic in Nzérékoré (40 km away) and visited a traditional healer, but died three days later. In the week after her death, her husband-as well as other family members who attended her funeral-fell ill, and four of them died. They were reported as the first suspect cases by the national epidemic alert system on 11 February. On 12 February, blood was taken from two suspect cases admitted to

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Filoviruses are important etiological agents of emergent diseases with high mortality rates. Traditionally, filovirus fever diseases have primarily been a burden of African countries; however, global interconnectedness has increased the probability of the worldwide spread of filoviruses. Therefore, national healthcare organizations need tools for managing filovirus risk, including diagnostic kits based on real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR), as this is the most suitable method for diagnosing filovirus fever diseases. Here we describe a real-time RT-qPCR assay for filovirus detection. This assay is a further development of our previously reported EBOV (Zaire)-Fl kit. Two sets (FiloA-Fl and FiloB-Fl) of real-time RT-qPCR assays for the detection of filoviruses were developed and evaluated using armored RNA phage particles (ARs) as positive controls. The limit of detection of the assay was 5x10 copies/ml of the AR-positive control for the FiloA-Fl set and 5x10 copies/ml of the AR-positive control for the FiloB-Fl set. Our assay provides a rapid and sensitive tool for detecting filoviruses. The high specificity and sensitivity of the assay make it useful for clinical and epidemiologic investigations in the field of filovirus fever diseases and their etiological agents.

continue post pregnancy. Pregnancy outcomes vary between Pakistani and white British pregnant women, but differences in health behaviours during pregnancy between these two groups are under researched. Methods 4807 (1831 white British, 2222 Pakistani and 754 of Other origin) pregnant women were interviewed at 26e28 weeks of gestation using a questionnaire which collected information on alcohol, cigarette, caffeine, pregnancy vitamin and fruit and vegetable consumption and exercise levels. Latent class analyses were conducted to identify subgroups (classes) of the cohort defined according to clustering of health behaviours. The association between ethnicity, and other characteristics, with class membership was then examined. Results Five independent classes of health behaviours were identified: three generally healthy classes that differed on alcohol and cigarette consumption, two unhealthy classes; one that smoked but didn't drink and one that was generally unhealthy. Although pregnant Pakistani and Other ethnicity women rarely reported smoking or alcohol consumption compared to white British women, other unhealthy behaviours such as lower rates of exercise and fruit and vegetable consumption were evident. Membership of the comprehensively unhealthy class was more likely in younger, white British pregnant women, of lower educational attainment. Conclusions These techniques provide better understanding of negative behavioural clusters and characteristics associated with cluster membership. This could aid clinicians' ability to identify pregnant women who would benefit from interventions to modify these behaviours.