Yambuku is a small village
in Mongala Province in northern
Democratic
Republic of the Congo
(previously Zaire
) and was the
site of the first known outbreak of the Ebola Zaire strain of the Ebola hemorrhagic
fever virus. It is about 600 miles
north of the capital city of Kinshasa
.
Ebola
The first known appearance of Ebola virus was on 26 August 1976, in
this rural village on the Ebola River. In all, 318 cases were
identified of which 280 died. (An additional 284 cases and 151
deaths occurred in nearby Sudan.) The small Yambuku hospital was
closed after 11 of its 17 staff members died.
Belgian
nuns serving
the community were also infected, and two of them died, along with
a Zairian nurse, after the group was transported to
Kinshasa. With
WHO assistance, the
outbreak was eventually contained by quarantining local villagers
in their communities, sterilizing medical equipment and providing
protective clothing to medical personnel. The small Congolese air
force provided helicopters to allow the outbreak team to visit 550
villages in the area.
See also
Wikis
Map
Search