Ebola and Marburg viruses: the humans strike back

Ebola and Marburg viruses are the causative agents of rapidly progressive hemorrhagic fevers with high mortality rates. Pre- or post-exposure treatments against the diseases are currently not available for human use. In the field, establishment of strict quarantine measures preventing further virus transmission are still the only way to fight the infections. However, our knowledge of Ebola and Marburg viruses has markedly increased as a result of two recent discoveries discussed in this review. Chandran et al. have elucidated the mechanism by which Ebola GP is converted to a fusion-active form. Infectivity of Ebola virus was shown to be dependent on the cleavage of GP by cellular endosomal proteases, cathepsin B and L, thus opening new therapeutic approaches options. As for Jones SM et al., they have successfully vaccinated monkeys with recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus expressing Ebola or Marburg virus surface glycoprotein GP, a promising vaccine approach.