The Discovery of Ebola: The 1976
Zaire Outbreak
The year is 1976. The location is Yambuku, Zaire, a small village located in the tropical rain forests of Zaire, Africa, which is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa. The Ebola river runs about 100 miles south of the village. The village of Yambuku was lucky enough to have a hospital, which was cleverly named the Yambuku Mission Hospital. This hospital served the population in all of the surrounding areas with as many as 400 patients being treated in a single day. On August 26, 1976, Mumbalo Lokela, a teacher at a local mission school, felt ill and went to the hospital for help. One of his symptoms was a high fever, so Mumbalo and the nurses thought he had contracted malaria, which was a common disease in the area. The nurse gave Mumbalo a shot to treat malaria and sent him home. A few days later he returned to the hospital because his condition had worsened. Only a few days later on September 8, 1976, Mumbalo died as a result of the disease.
Following traditional burial practices in this region, Mumbalo's family prepared his body for burial. This practice includes cleansing the body of the deceased person and touching the body with bare hands. Within only a few weeks, 21 of Mumbalo's friends and family became ill and 18 of them died. Unfortunately the disease had also spread to hundreds of other patients treated at Yambuku Mission Hospital. The hospital did not have needed resources including electricity or medical supplies. Syringes and needles were kept and reused with only a simple washing in warm water in-between patients. Hospital workers who had cared for the ill patients also became ill. In the end 358 people were infected with the disease and 325 of them died, which is a fatality rate of 91%. Mumbalo is known as the index or primary case in this outbreak because he is the first known person with the disease. |
An electron micrograph of the Ebola virus.
What was this deadly disease? Blood and liver samples from a deceased individual were sent to specialists in Belgium and the United States. Using different laboratory tests, including scanning electron microscopy, the researchers determined the illnesses and deaths were cause by a virus that had not been previously seen or identified. The virus was named Ebola after the river near Yambuku. This virus causing the outbreak in Zaire soon became known as Ebola-Zaire.
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