The U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 6 of 34 · 31 min
Into the Hot Zone: Naming Ebola (1976)
In 1976 a bleeding fever erupted at once in northern Zaire and southern Sudan, killing the nurses and missionaries who cared for the sick. Karl Johnson and Patricia Webb, who had broken Machupo, helped identify a new virus in the Marburg family from the CDC's Special Pathogens Branch. Johnson named it for the Ebola River so the village of Yambuku would not be stigmatized.
Who's who
- Karl M. Johnson+2 more episodesVirologist who led the 1976 international commission and proposed the name Ebola
- Patricia Webb+2 more episodesPHS virologist who ran serology at the CDC in Atlanta
- Joel BremanCDC epidemiologist on the Zaire commission
- Peter PiotBelgian microbiologist who investigated the Zaire outbreak
- William H. FoegeCDC leader in the early U.S. response
- John A. BryanCDC leader in the early U.S. response
Where it happens
- Yambuku, ZaireMission village at the center of the outbreak
- Nzara and Maridi, SudanSouthern Sudan towns hit by the simultaneous outbreak
- Ebola River, ZaireRiver that gave the virus its name
- Atlanta, Georgia+10 more episodesCDC base for Special Pathogens Branch laboratory work
Timeline
- 1969Lassa fever identified
- August-September 1976Bleeding fever erupts near Yambuku and in southern Sudan
- October 1976Laboratories identify a new virus in the Marburg family
- Late 1976International commission under Johnson investigates the Zaire outbreak
- 1977Name Ebola accepted at a London meeting
Still debated
The 1976 identification was shared by several laboratories and international teams, not a solo American effort. Contemporary death tolls shifted week to week, and scholars differ slightly on the river's name origin.
← PreviousA Planeload of Cats vs. Black Typhus: MARU and the Machupo Heroes (1957–64)Next →Expansion and Its Shadow: The IHS and Tuskegee (1932–1976)
