List of Ebola outbreaks

This List of Ebola outbreaks records the known occurrences of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Pathogens of the disease are the five ebolaviruses recognized by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses: Ebola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Reston virus (RESTV), Taï Forest virus (TAFV), and Bundibugyo virus (BDBV). RESTV has caused the illness only in primates.

Transmission between natural reservoirs and humans is rare, and outbreaks of Ebola virus disease are often traceable to a single case where an individual has handled the carcass of a gorilla, chimpanzee, or duiker. The virus then spreads person-to-person, especially within families, hospitals, and during some mortuary rituals where contact among individuals becomes more likely.

Learning from failed responses, such as during the 2000 Uganda outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) established its Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, and other public health measures were instituted in areas at high risk. Field laboratories were established to confirm cases, instead of shipping samples to South Africa. Outbreaks are closely followed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Special Pathogens Branch) as well.

Nigeria was the first country in western Africa to successfully curtail the virus, and its procedures have served as a model for other countries to follow.

After the Congolese health ministry notified the WHO of a "lab-confirmed case", the WHO declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Of the nine suspected to have contracted the virus, three people have died. One case was confirmed through tests at the national laboratory in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC.

...
Wikipedia