Claude Science helped trace the DR Congo Ebola outbreak from 838 virus genomes

nc_frey · x · 2026-10-23

A team including Dr. Placide Mbala Kingebeni's group at INRB Kinshasa used Claude Science to run phylodynamic analysis on 838 Bundibugyo virus genomes from the 2026 DR Congo outbreak, inferring the virus family tree, outbreak origin, and spread dynamics.
Key findings: before the outbreak was declared (Mar 1–May 15, 2026), viral effective population size doubled every 14 days with R≈1.94; growth slowed within a month of declaration (R=1.27), then fell to R=0.86 from mid-June to late September.
Claude Science enables researchers to run Bayesian phylodynamic inference (BEAST X, Delphy) in minutes to hours and compare stability across 20+ model configurations; results are published on Virological.org.

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