List of Ebola outbreaks
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. The pathogens responsible for the disease are the five ebolaviruses recognized by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses: Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Reston virus, Taï Forest virus, and Bundibugyo virus. 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. RESTV has caused subclinical infections in humans, producing an antibody response but no visual symptoms or disease state manifestations.
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, or duiker. The virus then spreads person-to-person, especially within families, hospitals and during some mortuary rituals where contact among individuals becomes more likely.
Learning from failed responses, such as during the 2000 outbreak in Uganda, the World Health Organization 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. Outbreaks are also closely monitored by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Special Pathogens Branch.
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.
Events
The following tables of outbreaks are based upon information provided by the World Health Organization which excludes all laboratory personnel cases, Reston virus cases, or suspected cases. For a complete overview, those cases are included below with footnotes and supporting sources.Major or massive cases
| Date | Country | Virus | Human cases | Human deaths | Case fatality rate | Description |
| Jun–Nov 1976 | SUDV | 284 | 151 | 53% | Occurred in Nzara, Maridi, Tumbura, and Juba. The index cases were workers in a cotton factory. The disease was spread by close contact with an acute case, usually from patients to their nurses. Many medical care personnel were infected. | |
| Aug 1976 | EBOV | 318 | 280 | 88% | Occurred in Yambuku and surrounding areas in what was then Zaire. It spread through personal contact and by use of contaminated needles and syringes in hospitals and clinics. | |
| Aug–Sep 1979 | SUDV | 34 | 22 | 65% | Occurred in Nzara and Maridi. This was a recurrent outbreak at the same site as the 1976 Sudan epidemic. | |
| EBOV | 52 | 31 | 60% | Occurred in Makokou and gold-mining camps deep in the rain forest along the Ivindo River. Until 1995, the outbreak was incorrectly classified as yellow fever. | ||
| May–Jul 1995 | EBOV | 315 | 254 | 81% | Occurred in Kikwit and surrounding areas. The outbreak was traced to a patient who worked in a forest adjoining the city. The epidemic spread through families and hospital admissions. | |
| Jan–Apr 1996 | EBOV | 31 | 21 | 68% | Occurred in the village of Mayibout 2 and neighboring areas. A chimpanzee found dead in the forest was eaten by villagers hunting for food. Nineteen people involved in the butchery of the animal became ill, and other cases occurred in their family members. | |
| Jul 1996–Mar 1997 | EBOV | 60 | 45 | 75% | Occurred in the Booué area with transport of patients to Libreville. The index case-patient was a hunter who lived in a forest timber camp. The disease was spread by close contact with infected persons. A dead chimpanzee found in the forest at the time was determined to be infected. | |
| Oct 2000–Jan 2001 | SUDV | 425 | 224 | 53% | Occurred in the Gulu, Masindi, and Mbarara districts of Uganda. The three greatest risks associated with Sudan virus infection were attending funerals of case-patients, having contact with case-patients in one's family, and providing medical care to case-patients without using adequate personal protective measures. Victims included Matthew Lukwiya. | |
| Oct 2001–Jul 2002 | EBOV | 65 | 53 | 82% | Occurred on both sides of the border between Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. | |
| Oct 2001–Jul 2002 | EBOV | 59 | 44 | 75% | Occurred on both sides of the border between Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. This outbreak included the first reported occurrence of Ebola virus disease in the RC. | |
| Dec 2002–Apr 2003 | EBOV | 143 | 128 | 90% | Occurred in the districts of Mbomo and Kelle in the Cuvette-Ouest Department. | |
| Nov–Dec 2003 | EBOV | 35 | 29 | 83% | Occurred in Mbomo and Mbandza villages, located in Mbomo District in the Cuvette-Ouest Department. | |
| Apr–Jun 2004 | SUDV | 17 | 7 | 41% | Occurred in Yambio county in Western Equatoria of southern Sudan. This outbreak was concurrent with an outbreak of measles in the same area, and several suspected EVD cases were reclassified later as measles cases. | |
| Apr-May 2005 | EBOV | 12 | 10 | 83% | Occurred in the Etoumbi district of Cuvette Ouest Department of the Republic of the Congo | |
| Aug–Nov 2007 | EBOV | 264 | 187 | 71% | ||
| Dec 2007–Jan 2008 | BDBV | 149 | 37 | 25% | Occurred in the Bundibugyo District in western Uganda. This was the first identification of the Bundibugyo virus. | |
| Dec 2008–Feb 2009 | EBOV | 32 | 14 | 45% | Occurred in the Mweka and Luebo health zones of the Kasaï-Occidental province. | |
| Jun–Aug 2012 | SUDV | 24 | 17 | 71% | Occurred in the Kibaale District. | |
| Jun–Nov 2012 | BDBV | 57 | 29 | 51% | Occurred in the Orientale Province. | |
| Dec 2013–Jan 2016 | Widespread: Limited and local: | EBOV | 28,616 | 11,310 | 70–71% 57–59% | This was the most severe Ebola outbreak in recorded history in regards to both the number of human cases and fatalities. It began in Guéckédou, Guinea, in December 2013 and spread abroad. Flare-ups of the disease continued into 2016, and the outbreak was declared over on 9 June 2016. |
| Aug–Nov 2014 | EBOV | 66 | 49 | 74% | Occurred in Équateur province. Outbreak detected 24 August and, as of 28 October 2014, the WHO said that twenty days had passed since the last reported case was discharged and no new contacts were being followed. Declared over on 15 November 2014. | |
| May–Jul 2018 | EBOV | 54 | 33 | 61% | On 8 May 2018, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported two confirmed cases of Ebola infection in the northwestern town of Bikoro. On 17 May, a case was confirmed in the city of Mbandaka. Health authorities are planning to ring vaccinate with rVSV-ZEBOV, a recently developed experimental Ebola vaccine, to contain the outbreak. The outbreak is ongoing as of 24 June 2018, in 2014 a different area of Equateur province was affected On July 24, 2018 the outbreak was declared over. | |
| Widespread: Limited and local: | EBOV | 3,470 | 2,280 | 66% | On 1 August 2018, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ministry of Health declared an outbreak when 4 individuals tested positive for the Ebola virus. On 11 June 2019, the WHO confirmed that a five-year-old boy in Uganda died after being diagnosed with Ebola.On 25 June, 2020 the second biggest EVD outbreak ever was declared over. | |
| May 2020 – present | EBOV | 67 | 31> | ongoing | On May 31, the DRC Health Minister Eteni Longondo announced an additional Ebola outbreak, separate to the ongoing Kivu Ebola epidemic. The latest viral outbreak is located in Équateur province.On 14 July, it had become 50 cases with 20 deaths due to the EVD outbreak. |