Dear Colleagues,

Ebola and Marburg virus diseases are severe infections in people and non-human primates (NHPs) with a high case-fatality rate.

Ebola disease is caused by an infection with one of four viruses within the genus Ebolavirus: Ebola virus (species Zaire ebolavirus), Sudan virus (species Sudan ebolavirus), Taï Forest virus (species Taï Forest ebolavirus) and Bundibugyo virus (species Bundibugyo ebolavirus). Marburg virus disease is caused by the Marburg virus, a member of the same family (Filoviridae) that includes the ebolaviruses. Marburg virus and ebolaviruses circulate in wildlife. The reservoir host of Marburg virus is the African fruit bat, but the virus has also been isolated in other bat species. Bats are also likely to be the host reservoir of ebolaviruses, although this has not been confirmed.

Both diseases are rare but can cause deadly outbreaks, which in particular settings, such as countries with weak health infrastructure or areas of conflict, can remain uncontrolled for months or years, claiming many lives. The largest outbreak of Ebola disease was caused by Zaire ebolavirus and occurred in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, with over 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths. The largest outbreak of Marburg virus disease occurred in Angola in 2004–2005 and resulted in more than 350 cases and 300 deaths. An Ebola disease outbreak due to Sudan ebolavirus occurred recently in Uganda and caused 164 cases and 55 deaths.

Large outbreaks have devastating consequences on the affected populations, which go beyond the lives lost due to the disease itself and include the lives lost to other diseases that are neglected during outbreaks and the substantial socio-economic costs.

Due to climate and environmental changes with the increasing interactions between humans and wildlife hosts, Ebola and Marburg outbreaks could become more frequent. It is, therefore, extremely important to develop and reinforce prevention and control strategies in at-risk countries in order to limit the extent of future outbreaks.

Vaccines play a key role in responses to epidemic threats and have been an important part of the response to Ebola disease outbreaks due to Zaire ebolavirus since the 2014–16 West African outbreak. However, there remain questions about the use of vaccines during and outside outbreaks. There are also no licensed vaccines against the Sudan and Marburg viruses, although several candidates are under development.

This Special Issue aims to collect recent scientific knowledge and advances in vaccination against the Ebola and Marburg virus diseases. We are interested in a broad area of research, including clinical trials, vaccine roll-out strategies, mathematical modelling, NHP studies and literature reviews that can inform future vaccination strategies against these diseases.

Dr. Daniela Manno
Guest Editor

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• Ebola virus
• Marburg virus
• vaccines
• clinical trials
• mathematical modelling
• literature reviews
• epidemiological studies
• animal studies