Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum

Last updated
Jean-Jacques Muyembe
Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum - 2018 (cropped).jpg
Born
Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum
Alma mater University of Leuven (PhD)
Lovanium University
Known forEbola discovery, [1] prevention & treatment
Awards Nature's 10 (2019) [2]
Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize (2019)
Royal Society Africa Prize (2015)
Scientific career
Institutions Democratic Republic of the Congo
National Institute for Biomedical Research
Thesis Mode d'action des inducteurs d'interferon non-viraux dans une infection virale de la souris  (1973)

Jean-Jacques Muyembe is a Congolese microbiologist. He is the general director of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale (INRB). He was part of team at the Yambuku Catholic Mission Hospital that investigated the first Ebola outbreak, and was part of the effort that discovered Ebola as a new disease, although his exact role is still subject to controversy. [1] [3] In 2016, he led the research that designed, along with other researchers at the INRB and the National Institute of Health Vaccine Research Center in the US, one of the most promising treatment for Ebola, mAb114. [4] The treatment was successfully experimented during recent outbreaks in the DRC, [5] on the express decision of the then DRC Minister of Health, Dr Oly Ilunga, despite a prior negative advice from the World Health Organization. [6]

Contents

Early life and education

Muyembe grew up in Bandundu Province, the child of farmers. He was educated in schools run by Jesuits. He studied medicine, starting in 1962, at the Lovanium University in the Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo) where he became interested in microbiology and graduated in 1969. [7] He earned a PhD in virology at the University of Leuven in Belgium, working on viral infections with mouse models. [7] [8] He returned to Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1973 and worked in the cholera outbreak control. [9] In 1974 there was a cholera outbreak in Matadi, which was the first crisis that Muyembe worked on. [8]

Career

Scanning electron micrograph of the Ebola virus in an African green monkey kidney cell Ebola Virus - Electron Micrograph.tiff
Scanning electron micrograph of the Ebola virus in an African green monkey kidney cell

Muyembe was described by The Lancet as Africa's Ebola hunter. [9] He first came across Ebola virus in 1976 at a Belgian hospital in Yambuku. [9] [10] Using a long steel rod, Muyembe took liver biopsies from three nuns who had died, but the results were inconclusive. He was the first scientist to come into contact with the virus and survive. [11] Muyembe has been described as one of the discoverers of Ebola due to his work in the 1976 outbreak. [1] He took the blood of a sick nurse, which was sent for analysis at the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, then to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where Peter Piot used the sample to discover Ebola. [9] That version of events, regarding his role in the 1976 outbreak, was later refuted in a 2016 scientific article he co-signed with some of the remaining actors of that first epidemic. [3]

He was appointed dean of the University of Kinshasa Medical School in 1978. [8] In 1981 Muyembe joined the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the Ebola and Marburg virus. [8] In 1998 he was made the director of the Democratic Republic of the Congo National Institute for Biomedical Research. [12]

He has acted as an adviser to the World Health Organization Emergency Committee on Ebola. [13] Here he leads 15 researchers studying sleeping sickness, bas-Congo virus and the Ebola. [13] He has advised political leadership in West Africa. [14]

He recognised the sociocultural challenges of Ebola, trying to encourage hospitals improve their infection control and community engagement. [9] He worked with David L. Heymann on the Ebola outbreak in 1995. [9] He was called by the director of the Kikwit General Hospital who was asking for help with an outbreak of deadly diarrhea. When Muyembe arrived, he recognised it was Ebola, and sent samples for confirmation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [8] He has chaired the international committees that looked to control the Ebola outbreaks in Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [7] He leads research into the reservoirs of the Ebola virus in the DRC. [7] In 2009, he demonstrated that the Ebola outbreaks in the DRC were due to fruit bat exposure. [15] He has developed an anti-Ebola serum therapy . [16] The anti-Ebola serum therapy, using antibodies from convalescent patients, was first tried by another medical team during the 1976 outbreak in Yambuku and subsequently recommended for future outbreaks by the International Commission set up by the Government of DRC (formerly Zaïre). [17]

In 2014, he was appointed by Director General Margaret Chan to the WHO Advisory Group on the Ebola Virus Disease Response, co-chaired by Sam Zaramba and David L. Heymann. [18]

There was a further Ebola outbreak in 2018, which took time to control due to delays in reporting. [19] The Wellcome Trust and Department for International Development donated £1 million each. [19] He pioneered the use of an experimental Ebola vaccine during the outbreak to limit the spread of the virus, including vaccinating health professionals. [20] [21] That position on the use of experimental drugs during outbreaks stirred some heated debate in the DRC, with Dr Oly Ilunga eventually resigning from his position as the Minister of Health, citing undue pressure and interference from unnamed multinational pharmaceutical firms. [22]

Muyembe has established multiple research facilities, including a polio and influenza lab. In 2017 he partnered with the Japan International Cooperation Agency to build a research complex with several biosafety labs. [7] As of 2018, the DRC still have none of their own labs to test for Ebola. [7]

On April 3, 2020, during a press conference in Kinshasa, Muyembe advocated for the trial in DRC of experimental vaccines against the COVID-19 virus in the midst of a major pandemic, generating a serious backlash from the congolese population. [23] He eventually backtracked, claiming a misunderstanding. [24]

Awards and honours

In 2015 he was awarded the Christophe Mérieux Prize to study further research in the Congo Basin. [9] [25] That year he was awarded the Royal Society Africa Prize "for his seminal work on viral haemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola, generating the foundation of our understanding of the epidemiology, clinical manifestations and control of outbreaks of these viral infections". [12] [26] [27] [28] He was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 International Symposium on Filoviruses. He was named as one of Nature's 10 in 2018 and 2019. [29] [2] In 2019 he won the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize from the Government of Japan. [30] Muyembe was included in Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020. [31] In 2022, Harvard University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science. [32] In 2023, he is awarded 2023 WHO Director General’s Global Leaders Awards as a distinguished scientist and public health leader who was closely involved in the discovery of Ebola before advancing to leadership positions in global health. The award honours his lifetime achievements in public health. [33]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Piot</span> Belgian microbiologist (born 1949)

Sir Peter Karel, Baron Piot, is a Belgian-British microbiologist known for his research into Ebola and AIDS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayinga N'Seka</span> Congolese nurse who died from Ebola in 1976

Mayinga N'Seka was a nurse in Zaïre, now Democratic Republic of the Congo. She died from Ebola virus disease during the 1976 epidemic in Zaïre. She has been incorrectly identified as the index case by several sources, but a World Health Organization commission report on the outbreak lists a man from Yambuku, Mabalo Lokela, as the index case. Lokela, a 44-year-old who had been buying meat in Sudan, died on September 8, 1976, over a month before N'Seka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span> Overview of the health system of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Health problems have been a long-standing issue limiting development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebola</span> Viral hemorrhagic fever of humans and other primates caused by ebolaviruses

Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infection. The first symptoms are usually fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches. These are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash and decreased liver and kidney function, at which point some people begin to bleed both internally and externally. It kills between 25% and 90% of those infected – about 50% on average. Death is often due to shock from fluid loss, and typically occurs between six and 16 days after the first symptoms appear. Early treatment of symptoms increases the survival rate considerably compared to late start. An Ebola vaccine was approved by the US FDA in December 2019.

rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine Vaccine against Ebola virus disease

Recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus–Zaire Ebola virus (rVSV-ZEBOV), also known as Ebola Zaire vaccine live and sold under the brand name Ervebo, is an Ebola vaccine for adults that prevents Ebola caused by the Zaire ebolavirus. When used in ring vaccination, rVSV-ZEBOV has shown a high level of protection. Around half the people given the vaccine have mild to moderate adverse effects that include headache, fatigue, and muscle pain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola virus outbreak</span> Disease outbreak in central Africa

In 2014, an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) occurred. Genome sequencing has shown that this outbreak was not related to the 2014–15 West Africa Ebola virus epidemic, but was of the same EBOV species. It began in August 2014 and was declared over in November of that year, after 42 days without any new cases. This is the 7th outbreak there, three of which occurred during the period of Zaire.

Oyewale Tomori is a Nigerian professor of virology, educational administrator, and former vice chancellor of Redeemer's University. In 2024, he became the chair of West Africa National Academy of Scientists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola virus outbreak</span> Disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 May 2017 as having one Ebola-related death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Équateur province Ebola outbreak</span> Disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The 2018 Équateur province Ebola outbreak occurred in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from May to July 2018. It was contained entirely within Équateur province, and was the first time that vaccination with the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine had been attempted in the early stages of an Ebola outbreak, with a total of 3,481 people vaccinated. It was the ninth recorded Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oly Ilunga Kalenga</span> Belgian–Congolese medical doctor (born 1960)

Oly Ilunga Kalenga is a Belgian–Congolese medical doctor who was the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Minister of Public Health from 2016 to 2019. He resigned his post on 22 July 2019, then was arrested on 14 September 2019 for allegedly mismanaging a portion of Congo's $4.3 million in Ebola response money, an allegation that he denies.

Likati is a town in the Aketi Territory of Bas-Uélé Province in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kivu Ebola epidemic</span> Ebola virus outbreak in the eastern DRC from 2018 to 2020

The Kivu Ebola epidemic was an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) mainly in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and in other parts of Central Africa, from 2018 to 2020. Between 1 August 2018 and 25 June 2020 it resulted in 3,470 reported cases. The Kivu outbreak also affected Ituri Province, whose first case was confirmed on 13 August 2018. In November 2018, the outbreak became the biggest Ebola outbreak in the DRC's history, and had become the second-largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history worldwide, behind only the 2013–2016 Western Africa epidemic. In June 2019, the virus reached Uganda, having infected a 5-year-old Congolese boy who entered Uganda with his family, but was contained.

Ansuvimab, sold under the brand name Ebanga, is a monoclonal antibody medication for the treatment of Zaire ebolavirus (Ebolavirus) infection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale</span> Government medical research center in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Institut National de la Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) is the national medical research organization of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The responsible ministry is the Ministry of Scientific Research and Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 Zaire Ebola virus outbreak</span> Outbreak of Ebola virus disease

In August–November 1976, an outbreak of Ebola virus disease occurred in Zaire. The first recorded case was from Yambuku, a small village in Mongala District, 1,098 kilometres (682 mi) northeast of the capital city of Kinshasa.

Atoltivimab/maftivimab/odesivimab, sold under the brand name Inmazeb, is a fixed-dose combination of three monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of Zaire ebolavirus. It contains atoltivimab, maftivimab, and odesivimab-ebgn and was developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibrahima Socé Fall</span>

Ibrahima Socé Fall is a Senegalese executive in the area of global health. He is Assistant Director-General for Emergencies Response at the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Assistant – Secretary-General. Fall has worked on various outbreak response and research teams in the field to eradicate the spread of diseases including COVID-19, Ebola, malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis. He was previously the Regional Emergencies Director of the WHO in the African Region and worked on Health Security and emergency preparedness and specially on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, epidemics and humanitarian crises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 North Kivu Ebola</span> Disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

On 7 February 2021, the Congolese health ministry announced that a new case of Ebola near Butembo, North Kivu had been detected the previous day. The case was a 42-year-old woman who had symptoms of Ebola in Biena on 1 February 2021. A few days after, she died in a hospital in Butembo. The WHO said that more than 70 people who had contact with the woman had been tracked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

Mpox is endemic in western and central Africa, with the majority of cases occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the disease is reportable. There, the more virulent Congo basin virus type has been affecting some of the world's poorest and socially excluded communities.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "This Congolese Doctor Discovered Ebola But Never Got Credit For It — Until Now". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  2. 1 2 Cyranoski, David; Gaind, Nisha; Gibney, Elizabeth; Masood, Ehsan; Maxmen, Amy; Reardon, Sara; Schiermeier, Quirin; Tollefson, Jeff; Witze, Alexandra (17 December 2019). "Nature's 10: Ten people who mattered in science in 2019". Nature. 576 (7787): 361–372. Bibcode:2019Natur.576..361C. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-03749-0 . PMID   31848484.
  3. 1 2 Breman, Joel G.; Heymann, David L.; Lloyd, Graham; McCormick, Joseph B.; Miatudila, Malonga; Murphy, Frederick A.; Muyembé-Tamfun, Jean-Jacques; Piot, Peter; Ruppol, Jean-François; Sureau, Pierre; van der Groen, Guido; Johnson, Karl M. (15 October 2016). "Discovery and Description of Ebola Zaire Virus in 1976 and Relevance to the West African Epidemic During 2013–2016". Journal of Infectious Diseases. 214 (suppl 3): S93–S101. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiw207. PMC   5050466 . PMID   27357339.
  4. ↑ Corti D, Misasi J, Mulangu S, Stanley DA, Kanekiyo M, Wollen S, et al. (March 2016). "Protective monotherapy against lethal Ebola virus infection by a potently neutralizing antibody". Science. 351 (6279): 1339–42. Bibcode:2016Sci...351.1339C. doi: 10.1126/science.aad5224 . PMID   26917593.
  5. ↑ "For the first time, clinical trial data show Ebola drugs improve survival rates". STAT. 12 August 2019.
  6. ↑ "Ebola outbreak opens way to chaotic jockeying to test experimental drugs". STAT. 30 May 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Jean-Jacques Muyembe". WHO. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum: a life's work on Ebola". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 96 (12): 804–805. 1 December 2018. doi:10.2471/BLT.18.031218. PMC   6249701 . PMID   30505027.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Honigsbaum, Mark (June 2015). "Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum: Africa's veteran Ebola hunter". The Lancet. 385 (9986): 2455. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61128-X. PMID   26122060. S2CID   25547601.
  10. ↑ Rosello, Alicia; Mossoko, Mathias; Flasche, Stefan; Van Hoek, Albert Jan; Mbala, Placide; Camacho, Anton; Funk, Sebastian; Kucharski, Adam; Ilunga, Benoit Kebela; Edmunds, W John; Piot, Peter; Baguelin, Marc; Muyembe Tamfum, Jean-Jacques (2015). "Ebola virus disease in Zaire (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), 1976-2014". eLife. 4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.09015 . PMC   4629279 . PMID   26525597.
  11. ↑ McNeish, Hannah (2017-03-24). "He Treated The Very First Ebola Cases 40 Years Ago. Then He Watched The World Forget". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  12. 1 2 "Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, MD, PhD « ICREID". Archived from the original on 2018-12-22. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  13. 1 2 "Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  14. ↑ Stokes, Elaisha (2014-10-24). "How the Democratic Republic of Congo Fought A Different Ebola Outbreak". Vice News. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  15. ↑ Leroy, Eric M.; Epelboin, Alain; Mondonge, Vital; Pourrut, Xavier; Gonzalez, Jean-Paul; Muyembe-Tamfum, Jean-Jacques; Formenty, Pierre (2009). "Human Ebola Outbreak Resulting from Direct Exposure to Fruit Bats in Luebo, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2007". Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 9 (6): 723–728. doi:10.1089/vbz.2008.0167. PMID   19323614.
  16. ↑ "Jean-Jacques Muyembe receives the Christophe Merieux prize - gdri-ehede". gdri-ehede.univ-fcomte.fr. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  17. ↑ Report of an International Commission (1978). "Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Zaire, 1976". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 56 (2): 271–293. PMC   2395567 . PMID   307456.
  18. ↑ Members of the WHO Advisory Group on the Ebola Virus Disease Response World Health Organization.
  19. 1 2 Yong, Ed (2018-05-11). "The New Ebola Outbreak Could Take 'Three, Maybe Four' Months to Control". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  20. ↑ "Ebola resurgit car nous ne connaissons pas son réservoir". BBC News Afrique. 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  21. ↑ Robert, Alexis; Camacho, Anton; Edmunds, W John; Baguelin, Marc; Muyembe Tamfum, Jean-Jacques; Rosello, Alicia; Keita, Sakoba; Eggo, Rosalind M. (2018). "Effect of vaccinating health care workers to control Ebola virus disease: A modelling analysis of outbreak data" (PDF). doi: 10.1101/113506 .{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  22. ↑ Un an d’Ebola en RDC: qui croire dans la polémique sur le deuxième vaccin? http://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20190802-ebola-rdc-croire-polemique-deuxieme-vaccin
  23. ↑ DR Congo 'prepared' to take part in vaccine testing: official. by AFP |https://news.yahoo.com/dr-congo-prepared-part-vaccine-testing-official-215705424.html
  24. ↑ "Covid-19 et vaccin en RDC: les précisions Dr Muyembe". YouTube .
  25. ↑ Institut de France, Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, lauréat du Prix Christophe Mérieux 2015. , retrieved 2018-12-21
  26. ↑ "Ghanaian scientist wins 2015 Royal Society Pfizer Early Career Award". citifmonline.com. 2015-08-20. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  27. ↑ The Royal Society Pfizer Award. The Royal Society.
  28. ↑ "Royal Society Pfizer Awards, 19th October 2015 | Alsford Lab". blogs.lshtm.ac.uk. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  29. ↑ Gibney, Elizabeth; Callaway, Ewen; Cyranoski, David; Gaind, Nisha; Tollefson, Jeff; Courtland, Rachel; Law, Yao-Hua; Maher, Brendan; Else, Holly; Castelvecchi, Davide (18 December 2018). "Nature's 10: Ten people who mattered in science in 2018". Nature. 564 (7736): 325–335. Bibcode:2018Natur.564..325G. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-07683-5 . PMID   30563976.
  30. ↑ "Laureates of the Third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  31. ↑ "Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020". Time . Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  32. ↑ gazetteterrymurphy (2022-05-26). "Harvard awards seven honorary degrees". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  33. ↑ @WHO (May 21, 2023). "The 2023 WHO Director General's Global Leaders Awards are given to Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum and Pieter Piot. Both are distinguished scientists and public health leaders who were closely involved in the discovery of Ebola before advancing to leadership positions in global health. The award honours their lifetime achievements in public health" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.