That’s an interesting article—it caught my attention until my husband came down and said, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for work?”
I will say, however, that I am unaware of any particular features of Ebolavirus that would cause it to be able to establish a low-level persistent infection. For one thing, it is a strictly RNA virus, with no DNA intermediate. Thus, it cannot conceal its genetic material within the host cell, either integrated into the chromosome or as an extra-chromosomal plasmid.
The only comparable virus that can hide in the body for long periods is the measles virus. I do not have time (and will not for the next several days) to compare the genomes of measles and Ebola to see if there are comparable features that would suggest that a similar mechanism in Ebola is plausible.
So far, the Ebolavirus has been shown to “survive” in immune privileged sites such as the seminal vesicles and interior of the eyes. I think that this is a purely physical presence, and that the virus is stabilized by the controlled pH and salt content of the fluids, rather than its establishing a low-level infection in those areas. I would think that as the fluids in those sites are slowly replaced, the virus will slowly be removed through dilution (and the removed virus will be destroyed by the immune system).
exDemMom,
One of the first rules of science of is to admit what we don’t know
We have never had this many Ebola infected and Ebola survivors before to characterize one in one hundred, one in 1,000 and one in 10,000 infection and survivor case histories.
According to mid-Sept 2015 WHO data, the totals in the outbreak region are at 28,295 confirmed, probable, or suspected cases and 11,295 deaths.
Healthcare worker infections as of that date were at 881 infections, 513 of them fatal.
That is in the neighborhood of ~30,000 infections (given the reality of sub-clinical infection) and 15,000 plus survivors.