This image shows Ebola virus particles (red) budding from the surface of kidney cell (blue).
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Flickr
While identifying a new disease by its place of origin seems intuitive, history shows that doing so can have serious consequences for the people that live there.
The current outbreak refuses to give in to efforts by an international team of health care workers, armed with vaccines and treatment that did not even exist during previous episodes.
A health worker spreading disinfectant at a health checkpoint in Goma, DRC.
Patricia Martinez/EPA-EFE
Nearly everything known about Ebola virus persistence in the reproductive system has resulted from testing semen of West African Ebola virus disease survivors.
There have been ten Ebola outbreaks recorded from the DRC between 1976 and 2018 from different locations. This implies that the virus is widely spread.
A health-care worker wears virus protective gear at a treatment center in Bikoro Democratic Republic of Congo, on May 13, 2018.
(AP Photo/John Bompengo)
History, and math, tell us that the Ebola virus spreads exponentially quickly. This means Ebola is a global problem and all nations need to rally – to stop the epidemic fast.