Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever – a Review

Abstract

The Ebola virus was first identified during simultaneous outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo1 and Sudan.2 Human Ebola infection probably occurs more frequently than was previously believed. Intensive surveillance for Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the equatorial region of the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1981 and 1985 suggested that Ebola haemorrhagic fever periodically emerges from nature to infect humans.3 Since the increased awareness about Ebola, following the Kikwit 1995 outbreak,4 two Ebola outbreaks have occurred in Gabon5,6 and one nurse has died of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in South Africa after taking care of an infected Gabonese physician.7 Prior to the Kikwit epidemic there had been two outbreaks with the Reston type of Ebola in imported monkeys in the U.S.A.8,9 For these reasons there has been an increased scientific interest in Ebola haemorrhagic fever during recent years. In February 1999, the Journal of Infectious Diseases published a 288-page supplement on Ebola research. In May 1999 haemorrhagic fever cases were reported from the north-east province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A new Ebola outbreak was initially suspected, but later laboratory tests confirmed it was the first Marburg epidemic in Africa.10 A list of the known Ebola outbreaks is shown in Table I. In this review we will summarize what is currently known about Ebola haemorrhagic fever.