Ebola virus disease was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola River in DRC. The Bundibugyo strain (BDBV), driving the current outbreak, was only discovered in 2007 in western Uganda.
Ebola virus disease (EVD) was first identified in 1976 during simultaneous outbreaks in Nzara (now South Sudan) and Yambuku, near the Ebola River in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The river gave the virus its name.
Ebola belongs to the family Filoviridae, alongside Marburg. Six species are recognised: Zaire, Sudan, Tai Forest, Bundibugyo, Reston, and Bombali ebolaviruses. Zaire ebolavirus is historically the most lethal, with case-fatality rates of 25 to 90 percent.
Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV) is the youngest of the human-pathogenic species. It was first isolated during a 2007 outbreak in Bundibugyo District, western Uganda, where it killed roughly a quarter of those infected. A second outbreak struck DRC in 2012, and BDBV is the strain at the centre of the current outbreak.
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the likely natural reservoir for all ebolaviruses, including Bundibugyo, with spillover into humans through contact with bats, non-human primates, and bushmeat.