Washington: Researchers have established the first genomic surveillance capability in Liberia, enabling them to monitor genetic changes in the Ebola virus within one week of sample collection.

Until now, efforts to sequence the genome of Ebola virus, Makona, have been hampered by the time it took to send samples back to the United States for analysis, according to Jeffrey Kugelman, US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).