HISTORY OF OUTBREAKS 

Index case

The Ebola virus is what can be termed as a newcomer. The first recorded case, or index case of a virulent disease, which later would be called Ebola, was in the town of N’zara, in southern Sudan. N’zara lies near the edges of the Tropical rainforest. The person in concern, was a worker in a cotton factory and it is still not known how he contracted this virus. Before collapsing and dying in his own home, he unknowingly transmitted the virus to a large number of friends and relatives. Since the virus is highly contagious, it jumped easily from person to person.

Spread to N'Zara and Maridi

The virus spread with devastating speed and effect. It burned through the population of N’zara and hit the nearby town of Maridi, which had a hospital, like a bomb. Within days, the hospital at Maridi was like a morgue, with the virus jumping from patient to patient by physical contact or by means of non sterilised medical equipment. Many of the staff deserted their posts, which proved to be a good thing. This outbreak subsided and the virus disappeared mysteriously. By pure chance the virus was contained within Central Africa. In Sudan 284 cases were recorded with a 141 fatalities – a kill rate of 50 %.

Ebola in the Bumba Region

But that was not the end.

A few months after the outbreak of Ebola Sudan and even before the Sudan epidemic had subsided, a sister of Ebola Sudan emerged in the Bumba area in Zaire. This area is also in an area of tropical rainforest populated by scattered villages and is drained by the Ebola River. The index case of this epidemic is still not known and the virus surfaced in a hospital run by Belgian nuns. The virus was first recorded in a schoolteacher who visited the hospital to get an injection from the nuns, as he was not feeling well.

The virus burns through the Bumba region

The virus erupted simultaneously in fifty-five villages surrounding the hospital. The virus swept through the local population, especially the women who prepare the dead for burial. It hit the hospital staff and then it hit the nuns. The virus even at this stage was still an unknown agent.

One of the nuns who fell sick was transported to a hospital in Kinshasa where she was cared for by a nurse, named N. Mayinga. Mayinga contracted the radiantly hot virus from the Belgian nun and for two days wandered around Kinshasa, looking for treatment or to be admitted into the University Hospital. She was finally admitted at the Ngaliema hospital in Kinshasa. At this time, the news of the outbreak had reached the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva. The then president of Zaire ordered a total seal of the Ngaliema hospital by the military.

By the time the WHO delegation reached the Bumba area, there was a total blackout of information. The virus had burned the Bumba region. Meanwhile, Nurse Mayinga crashed out and died. The WHO team set up biocontainment pavilions to isolate people who had any contact with Mayinga or who showed any signs of having contracted the disease.

Then, against the fears of an epidemic breaking out on a wild scale in Kinshasa and subsequently spreading overseas, the virus suddenly and mysteriously dropped out of sight. None of the people who had come into contact with Nurse Mayinga fell ill.

In Zaire, the number of recorded cases was 318 of which 280 were fatal, a kill rate of over 88 %.

Ebola announces its presence to the world

The virus was then identified as a filovirus and was named Ebola after the river where it had first emerged. The virus from Sudan was named the Ebola Sudan and the strain from Zaire was named Ebola Zaire Mayinga. Thus, Ebola announced its presence in the modern world.

From the table, it is clear that the Ebola virus is a phenomenon of Central and part of West Africa, in the areas close or bordering tropical rainforests. This list is by no means complete and represents statistics known to the WHO. It is very likely that the virus surfaced in earlier times and was never detected due to the remoteness of the areas involved, or the lack of proper medical care facilities.

Fig 4 

Map of Ebola Outbreaks (Central and Western Africa)

click on the thumbnail for a larger image

Fig 5

Gabon outbreak of '96 - '97

Source

click on the thumbnail for a larger image

Fig 6

Land Sat image of deforested areas near the river Ebola in Zaire 

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FOREWORD

Why this page was published

AIMS AND METHODOLOGY     

What are we trying to prove?

INTRODUCTION

The violent world of Biosafety level 4 viruses

WHAT IS A VIRUS?

THE EBOLA VIRUS

The shepherd’s crook

LIFECYCLE OF THE EBOLA VIRUS

The nature of the beast

- Pathology-

VARIANTS OF THE EBOLA VIRUS

THE HIV VIRUS

Comparison of Ebola with the deadly AIDS virus

RESERVOIR SPECIES

Where does the virus hide?

HISTORY OF OUTBREAKS

Comprehensive list of outbreaks till date

TREATMENT

Current stage of research

THE TROPICAL RAINFOREST AND ITS DESTRUCTION

GIS ANALYSIS

Overlay of deforestation and Ebola outbreak areas

CONCLUSION

Is the human race headed for destruction?

YEAR 

 STRAIN 

CASES /FATALITIES 

COMMENTS

UPDATES

Nov 2003

No Data

35 (29)

Districts of Mbomo and Kéllé in Cuvette, Republic of Congo

Feb 2003 -

No data

143 (128)

Districts of Mbomo and Kéllé in Cuvette, Republic of Congo

October - May 2002

No data

60 (50)

Libreville, Gabon (Ivindo  district), last death on March 19

2001

No data (suspected might be Crimean - Congo Haemorrhagic fever

75  (8)

Afghanistan - Pakistan border

2000 - 2001

No data

428  (174)

Uganda (Gulu District) 

1999

No data

63

   Watsa (Congo - Sudan Border)

July 96 - 

Subtype Ebola Zaire

60 

 Libreville, Gabon

1996

2  (1)

South Africa initial case imported from Gabon

1996*

 No data

60  (45)

Cases recorded near Libreville, Gabon between July 1996 and March 1997.

1996*

 No data

37  (21)

Cases recorded in Mayibout, Gabon between January and March. The virus was apparently transmitted from a chimpanzee that was prepared for a feast by villagers of the village Mayibout. The village is about 150 km away from the provincial capital of Makokou on the Ivindo river.

1996*

 No data

1 (0)

Case recorded in Plibo, Liberia.

1996*

Ebola Zaire

316 (245)

Cases recorded in Kikwit, Zaire between Jan- June 1995. 

1994*

  Ebola Tai (Cote  d'Ivorie)

1  (0)

-

1989

  Ebola Reston

4  (0)

Reston Virginia; infected cynomolgus macaques imported from the Philippines. Subsequent studies established Asian origin of virus. All four cases were subclinical. Ebola Reston is thought to be harmless to humans but lethal for primates.

1979

  Ebola Sudan

34  (22)

Recurrent episode in Nzara. The index case in this outbreak worked in the same cotton factory which was the centre of the first outbreak.

1977

Ebola Zaire

1 (0)

Child in Tandala, Zaire died of hemorrhagic fever.

1976

Ebola Zaire

318 (280)

Index case introduced into hospital run by Belgian nuns at Yambuku in the Bumba region. Secondary transmission occurred by injection and unsterilized equipment as well as contact with infected people.

1976

Ebola Sudan

284 (141)

Epidemic had its origins in Nzara, Sudan. Index case was traced to a cotton factory. Spread to adjacent towns including the hospital at Maridi.