Re: Who dicovered the Ebola virus?

Dear Lisa,

As you probably know, Ebola is one of the most deadly viruses known with a mortality rate of over 90%. Because of this, Ebola has come to symbolise th e danger of emerging and re-emerging diseases.

The first outbreaks of Ebola were almost simultaneously in Sudan and Zaire in 1976, and the disease has occured in Gabon and the Ivory Coast since then. Ebola (which is named after a river in Zaire) is closely related to Marburg virus, and to a virus that caused an epidemic in monkeys imported from the Philipinnes in Reston, Virginia in 1989.

The first publication announcing the virus to the medical and scientific communities was:

Lancet 1977 Mar 12;1(8011):571-3 'Viral haemorrhagic fever in southern Sudan and northern Zaire. Preliminary studies on the aetiological agent.' Bowen ET, Lloyd G, Harris WJ, Platt GS, Baskerville A, Vella EE

So I suppose any of these scientists would have a claim to have 'discovered' the Ebola virus. THe first person to photograph the virus itself was Dr Fredrick Murphy. There's an interview with Dr Murphy and a copy of the photograph available online.

You can get more information about Ebola outbreaks, and about the disease itself on some other web-sites, and there's a good list of Ebola-related web pages. Also a report on some recent research on Ebola.

James