Subtitle: The First Person Known to Contract Ebola
The first known case of Ebola was recorded in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The patient was a 44-year-old school teacher, Mabalo Lokela, who was admitted to a hospital in Yambuku, a remote village near the Ebola River. On September 6, Lokela was diagnosed with the disease and died within a few days.
Subsequent investigations found that the virus had likely been spread by bats living in the forest not far from the village. The bats were believed to have infected fruit which was then eaten by humans.
In the subsequent months, dozens of people in the region were infected and died from the disease. It was the first known outbreak of the virus, and it was contained by early 1977.
The first known case outside of the DRC occurred in 2014 in West Africa. That outbreak resulted in more than 11,000 deaths before containment measures were put in place.
Containment measures refer to any action taken to prevent the spread of a disease. In the case of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, these measures included quarantining those who were infected, tracing contacts and providing medical treatment.