Bacillus paranthracis Isolate from Blood of Fatal Ebola Virus Disease Case

M Jeremiah Matson; Sarah L Anzick; Friederike Feldmann; Craig A Martens; Steven K Drake; Heinz Feldmann; Moses Massaquoi; Daniel S Chertow; Vincent J Munster

doi:10.3390/pathogens9060475

Bacillus paranthracis Isolate from Blood of Fatal Ebola Virus Disease Case

Pathogens. 2020 Jun 16;9(6):475. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9060475.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Virology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
² Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Huntington, WV 25701, USA.
³ Genomics Unit, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
⁴ Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
⁵ Critical Care Medicine Department, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.
⁶ Clinton Health Access Initiative, Monrovia, Liberia.
⁷ Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.

Abstract

A Bacillus paranthracis isolate was cultured from the blood of a fatal Ebola virus disease (EVD) case in Liberia and was identified by whole genome sequencing. Although B. paranthracis has only recently been described and is poorly characterized, this case may represent the bacterial co-infection of an EVD patient.

Keywords: Africa; Bacillus; Bacillus cereus; EBOV; EVD; Ebola; Ebola virus disease; Liberia; West Africa; bacteremia; co-infection; hemorrhagic fever; sepsis.

Publication types

Case Reports