Shirlee Wohl

TL;DR: This West African variant likely diverged from central African lineages around 2004, crossed from Guinea to Sierra Leone in May 2014, and has exhibited sustained human-to-human transmission subsequently, with no evidence of additional zoonotic sources.

TL;DR: It is revealed that this large epidemic was a heterogeneous and spatially dissociated collection of transmission clusters of varying size, duration and connectivity, which will help to inform interventions in future epidemics.

TL;DR: It is found that ZIKV circulated undetected in multiple regions for many months before the first locally transmitted cases were confirmed, highlighting the importance of surveillance of viral infections.

TL;DR: It is shown that at least 4 introductions, but potentially as many as 40, contributed to the outbreak in Florida and that local transmission is likely to have started in the spring of 2016—several months before its initial detection.

TL;DR: Analysis of sequences from 232 patients sampled over 7 months in Sierra Leone, along with 86 previously released genomes from earlier in the epidemic, confirms sustained human-to-human transmission within Sierra Leone and finds no evidence for import or export of EBOV across national borders after its initial introduction.