1976 Zaire Ebola virus outbreak
In August–November 1976, an outbreak of Ebola virus disease occurred in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The first recorded case was from Yambuku, a small village in Mongala District, 1,098 kilometres (682 mi) northeast of the capital city of Kinshasa.
Zaire (orthographic projection) | |
| Date | August–November 1976 |
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The virus responsible for the initial outbreak, named after the nearby Ebola River, was first thought to be Marburg virus but was later identified as a new type of virus related to the genus Marburgvirus.
A total of 318 cases and 280 deaths (an 88% fatality rate) resulted from this outbreak, which, along with an outbreak in Sudan that had begun a few weeks previously, were the first outbreaks of Ebola ever recorded.
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