Ebola
virus disease, which used to be called Ebola haemorrhagic fever, was
named after the river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where one
of the first two villages to report cases in 1976 was located. The
other was in Sudan. Ebola is a severe viral illness with a sudden onset
that comes from direct contact with infected living or dead rainforest
animals, including chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, fruit bats, forest
antelope and porcupines. It kills up to 90% of those who are infected.
Charity staff at a
hospital in Liberia put on protective gear, which must be worn when
treating ebola patients. Photograph: Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images
