Warning: Ebola arrived in Columbus land

Abstract

A few years ago, only some students of geography knew that Ebola was the name of a small river in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1976, in the village of Yambuku, a man died of a rare hemorrhagic fever which alerted the scientific world. Rumor has it that this man bought a fruit bat and later cooked and ate it, along with his family; some days later, all of them died. The cause of these deaths was a virus that was later called the Ebola virus (1). After this event, the epidemic spread throughout the town and then to other places. Today, about 4 000 people worldwide have been killed by the virus, including one case in the United States, two in Spain and one in Brazil. Only 1 in 10 infected patients survive and poor calculations estimate 20 000 people infected, especially in the West African republics.

A few years ago, only some students of geography knew that Ebola was the name of a small river in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1976, in the village of Yambuku, a man died of a rare hemorrhagic fever which alerted the scientific world. Rumor has it that this man bought a fruit bat and later cooked and ate it, along with his family; some days later, all of them died. The cause of these deaths was a virus that was later called the Ebola virus (1). After this event, the epidemic spread throughout the town and then to other places. Today, about 4 000 people worldwide have been killed by the virus, including one case in the United States, two in Spain and one in Brazil. Only 1 in 10 infected patients survive and poor calculations estimate 20 000 people infected, especially in the West African republics.