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] 1,098 kilometres (682 mi) northeast of the capital city of Kinshasa. Ebola disease was first identified in 1976 after an outbreak in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, these viruses have emerged periodically from the unknown animal that carries them and infected people in several African countries. We reviewed the origins of all Eboladisease outbreaks from 1976 to 2022 to analyze the earliest cases and characteristics of each outbreak. The epidemiology and phylogenetic relationships of outbreak strains were used to further identify the likely source of each outbreak. Sep 24, 2025 · From 1976 to today, the history of Ebola reveals a deadly virus shaped by ecology, culture, and global health response. Jan 25, 2017 · Thus, the two ITM researchers were the co-discoverers of the virus, which was later named ‘Ebola’, after a river close to Yambuku. They travelled to Zaire to study the epidemic. Sep 4, 2025 · The disease was identified in 1976, in almost simultaneous outbreaks in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)) and Sudan (now South Sudan). On October 15, the WHO reported the presence of a new virus, later named Ebola for a local river. What followed was an internationally coordinated investigation of both Zaire and Sudan by at least eight nations, several international organizations, and Zaire’s entire medical community.