In a joint effort, researchers from the United States and Uganda have discovered an Ebola subtype responsible for a recent outbreak of hemorraghic fever in the East African country. In their paper, accesible on PLoS, they state that „the virus is genetically distinct, differing by more than 30% at the genome level from all other known ebolavirus species“. Efforts to design „effective diagnostics, antivirals and vaccines will need to take into account the distinct nature of this important new member of the filovirus family“, they continue. On Scienceblogs, contributor Tara C. Smith provides some background information; also, an intense discussion about the relevance of the results is going on.