What is Ebola?

What is Ebola?

The first cases of Ebola were reported simultaneously in 1976 in Yambuku and the surrounding area, near the Ebola River in Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Nzara, Sudan. Since then, eruptions or asymptomatic cases of Ebola viruses in humans and animals have surfaced intermittently in the following locations due to outbreaks or laboratory contamination and accidents:⁵

The first cases of Ebola were reported in 1976 in Yambuku and the surrounding area, near the Ebola River in Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo - DRC)
• Sudan (South Sudan)
• England
• US
• Philippines
• Italy
• Gabon
• Ivory Coast
• South Africa
• Russia
• Uganda
• Guinea
• Liberia
• Sierra Leone.

Genus Ebolavirus is one of three members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus), along with genus Marburgvirus and genus Cuevavirus. Genus Ebolavirus comprises five distinct subspecies:^1,2

• Bundibugyo Ebolavirus (BDBV)
• Zaire Ebolavirus (EBOV)
• Reston Ebolavirus (RESTV)
• Sudan Ebolavirus (SUDV)
• Taï Forest Ebolavirus (TAFV).

BDBV, EBOV, and SUDV have been connected with considerable EVD outbreaks in Africa, however RESTV and TAFV have not.
The RESTV subspecies found in Philippines and the People's Republic of China, can infect humans, but no illness or death in humans from this species has been reported to date.² Among workers in contact with monkeys or pigs infected with RESTV, several infections have been documented in people who were clinically asymptomatic. Hence, RESTV appears less able to cause disease in humans than other Ebola species.