Four decades after the first outbreak of the Ebola virus in Central Africa, misconceptions and misinformation about the disease abound. No one from the CDC to the WHO has been able to articulate the scope of the problem well.
During the first outbreak, Zaire wasn’t the first place where Ebola crossed into the human population. It was the second area. But it was the first place visited by foreign disease investigators, and where a nun, who succumbed to the virus, had her blood sent to Peter Piot in Antwerp to be tested for yellow fever. Dr. Piot would become the co-discoverer of Ebola, so named for the river in the northern part of the country.
That was in October 1976.
Ebola 2020 should be planned for now and not put on the back burner.
