Ebola Outbreaks (Cont.)

Background on Ebola

Ebola Outbreaks in the 1980s

There was one confirmed Ebola outbreak in the 1980s. Ebola-Reston virus caused severe illness and death in monkeys imported to research facilities in the United States from the Philippines; during this Ebola outbreak, several research workers became infected with the virus, but did not become ill.

Ebola Outbreaks in the 1990s

There were 10 confirmed Ebola outbreaks during the 1990s.

Year	Ebola subtype	Country	No. of human cases	Percentage of deaths among cases	Ebola Outbreak Details
1990	Ebola-Reston	USA	0	0%	Ebola-Reston virus was introduced once again into quarantine facilities in Virginia, and Texas by monkeys imported from the Philippines. Four humans developed antibodies but did not get sick.
1992	Ebola-Reston	Italy	0	0%	Ebola-Reston virus was introduced into quarantine facilities in Sienna by monkeys imported from the same export facility in the Philippines that was involved in the episodes in the United States. No humans were infected.
1994	Ebola-Zaire	Gabon	49	59%	Occurred in Mékouka and other gold-mining camps deep in the rain forest. Initially thought to be yellow fever; identified as Ebola hemorrhagic fever in 1995.
1994	Ebola-Ivory Coast	Ivory Coast	1	0%	Scientist became ill after conducting an autopsy on a wild chimpanzee in the Tai Forest. The patient was treated in Switzerland.
1995	Ebola-Zaire	Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire)	315	81%	Occurred in Kikwit and surrounding area. Traced to index case-patient who worked in forest adjoining the city. Epidemic spread through families and hospitals.
1996	Ebola-Zaire	Gabon	31	68%	Occurred in Mayibout area. A chimpanzee found dead in the forest was eaten by people hunting for food. Nineteen people who were involved in the butchery of the animal became ill; other cases occurred in family members.
1996	Ebola-Zaire	Gabon	60	75%	Occurred in Booué area with transport of patients to Libreville. Index case-patient was a hunter who lived in a forest camp. Disease was spread by close contact with infected persons. A dead chimpanzee found in the forest at the time was determined to be infected.
1996	Ebola-Zaire	South Africa	2	50%	A medical professional traveled from Gabon to Johannesburg, South Africa, after having treated Ebola virus-infected patients and thus having been exposed to the virus. He was hospitalized, and a nurse who took care of him became infected and died.
1996	Ebola-Reston	USA	0	0%	Ebola-Reston virus was introduced into a quarantine facility in Texas by monkeys imported from the Philippines. No human infections were identified.
1996	Ebola-Reston	Philippines	0	0%	Ebola-Reston virus was identified in a monkey export facility in the Philippines. No human infections were identified.

(Ebola Outbreaks Continued: Page 4)
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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD

Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD

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