1976 Ebola Zaire

About 1976 Ebola Zaire

The first recorded Ebola outbreak occurred in Yambuku, Zaire now DR Congo, in 1976. The first recognised case was Mabalo Lokela, a schoolteacher; the source of his infection was never established. The virus spread through contaminated needles at the Yambuku Mission Hospital, which reused syringes without sterilization. Of 318 cases, 280 died, an 88 percent case fatality rate. The virus was named after the nearby Ebola River. Peter Piot, a young Belgian microbiologist, co identified the virus at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. Simultaneously, a separate Ebola outbreak occurred in Nzara, Sudan now South Sudan, with 284 cases and 151 deaths. The two outbreaks were caused by different species, now named Zaire ebolavirus and Sudan ebolavirus. The discovery of Ebola demonstrated that nature harbored pathogens far deadlier than known viruses. The 1976 outbreak established the archetype of viral hemorrhagic fever response.