List of Ebola outbreaks

Ebola virus (SEM)

This list of Ebola outbreaks records the known occurrences of Ebola virus disease, a highly infectious and acutely lethal viral disease that has afflicted humans and animals primarily in equatorial Africa.[1] The pathogens responsible for 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).[2][3][4][5] Four of the five variants have caused the disease in humans as well as other animals; RESTV has caused clinical symptoms only in non-human primates.[6][7] RESTV has caused subclinical infections in humans, producing an antibody response but no visual symptoms or disease state manifestations.[8]

Transmission of the ebolaviruses 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, bats,[9] or duiker.[10] The virus then spreads person-to-person, especially within families, in hospitals, and during some mortuary rituals where contact among individuals becomes more likely.[11]

Learning from failed responses, such as during the 2000 outbreak in Uganda, 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.[12] Outbreaks are also closely monitored by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Special Pathogens Branch.[13]

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.[14][15][16]

  1. ^ "Outbreaks Chronology: Ebola Virus Disease". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology; Viral Special Pathogens Branch), National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. 20 October 2016 [Last updated 14 April 2016]. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Filoviridae: Current Taxonomy (2015)". International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. 2015. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference PMID19023410 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "End of Ebola outbreak in Uganda" (Press release). World Health Organization. 20 February 2008. Archived from the original on 1 March 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  5. ^ Schoepp, Randal J.; Olinger, Gene G. (2014). "Chapter 7: Filoviruses". In Liu, Dongyou (ed.). Manual of Security Sensitive Microbes and Toxins. CRC Press. p. 66. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  6. ^ Iowa State University Center for Food Security and Public Health (2016). "Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus Infections". Center for Food Security and Public Health Technical Factsheets.
  7. ^ "About Ebola Virus Disease". CDC. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  8. ^ Demetria, Catalino; Smith, Ina; Tan, Titus; Villarico, Daniel; Simon, Edson Michael; Centeno, Rex; Tachedjian, Mary; Taniguchi, Satoshi; Shimojima, Masayuki; Miranda, Noel Lee J.; Miranda, Mary Elizabeth (2018). "Reemergence of Reston ebolavirus in Cynomolgus Monkeys, the Philippines, 2015 - Volume 24, Number 7—July 2018 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 24 (7): 1285–1291. doi:10.3201/eid2407.171234. PMC 6038738. PMID 29912712.
  9. ^ Sun, Lena H. "Scientists find deadly Ebola virus for first time in West African bat". Washington Post. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  10. ^ Peterson, A. T.; Bauer, J. T.; Mills, J. N. (January 2004). "Ecologic and geographic distribution of filovirus disease". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 10 (1): 40–7. doi:10.3201/eid1001.030125. PMC 3322747. PMID 15078595.
  11. ^ "Questions and Answers about Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 25 March 2009. Archived from the original on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
  12. ^ Cohen, J. (2004). "Containing the Threat—Don't Forget Ebola". PLOS Medicine. 1 (3): e59. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0010059. PMC 539049. PMID 15630468.
  13. ^ "Mission Statement". National Center for Infectious Diseases & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 31 October 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  14. ^ Matt Schiavenza (14 October 2014). "Why Nigeria Was Able to Beat Ebola, but Not Boko Haram". The Atlantic. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  15. ^ "US sends experts to study Nigeria's anti-Ebola strategies". The Punch. 3 October 2014. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. ^ "US sends medical experts to study how Nigeria tamed Ebola". Vanguard. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2015.