Outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in Africa: the beginnings of a tragic saga

Table 5 Length of African Ebola outbreaks

Outbreak	Index case	Alert	Last case	Length of outbreak*	Number of outbreak sources	References
Sudan 1976	Jun. 27, 1976	Sep. 15, 1976	Nov. 25, 1976	151 days	1	[25, 101]
DRC 1976	Sep. 1, 1976	Sep. 21, 1976	Nov. 5, 1976	66 days	1	[26, 102]
Sudan 1979	Jul. 31, 1979	Sep. 12, 1979	Oct. 6, 1979	67 days	1	[24, 103]
Gabon 1994-5	Nov. 13, 1994	Dec. 18, 1994¹	Feb. 9, 1995	88 days	?	[67, 84, 104]
DRC 1995	Jan. 6, 1995	May 1, 1995	Jul. 16, 1995	191 days	1	[28, 87]
Gabon 1996	Jan. 31, 1996	Feb. 13, 1996	Mar. 12, 1996	83 days	1	[67, 88, 89]
Gabon 1996-7	Jul. 13, 1996	Oct. 5, 1996	Jan. 18, 1997	189 days	?	[67, 90, 91]
Uganda 2000-1	Aug. 30, 2000	Oct. 8, 2000	Jan. 14, 2001	137 days	1	[21, 105]
Gabon 2001-2	Oct. 25, 2001	Nov. 17, 2001	Mar. 22, 2002	148 days	5	[69, 34]
Congo 2001-2	ND	ND	ND	ND	?	[34]
Congo 2002	May 17, 2002	June 6, 2002	Jul. 25, 2002	69 days	1	[34]
Gabon 2002	May 17, 2002	Jun. 21, 2002	Jul. 25, 2002?	69 days?	1	[34]
Congo 2002-3	Dec. 25, 2002	Jan. 28, 2003	Apr. 22, 2003	118 days	3	[71]
Congo 2003	Oct. 11, 2003	Oct. 24, 2003	Dec. 2, 2003	52 days	1	[92]
Sudan 2004	Apr. 15, 2004	May 6, 2004	June 26, 2004	72 days	1	[93]
Congo 2005	Apr. 18, 2005	Apr. 26, 2005	May 27, 2005	39 days	1	[70]
DRC 2007	Jun. 12, 2007	Aug. 22, 2007	Oct. 10, 2007	120 days	1	[58, 19]
Uganda 2007-8	Aug. 20, 2007	Sep. 15, 2007	Jan. 8, 2008	141 days	1	[30, 33, 94]
DRC 2008-9	Nov. 27, 2008	Dec. 25, 2008	Jan. 1, 2009	34 days	1	[19]
Uganda 2012²	Jun. 11, 2012	Jul. 24, 2012	Aug. 24, 2012	74 days	1	[96, 97]
Uganda 2012²	Oct. 13, 2012	Nov. 14, 2012	Dec. 5, 2012	53 days	1	[97–99]
DRC 2012²	Mar. 20, 2012	Aug. 17, 2012	Oct. 11, 2012	206 days	?	[79, 100]

*Between the index case and recovery or death of the last case. ¹First reported as yellow fever[85]. ²Partial unconsolidated data. ND: not determined.

ISSN: 1678-9199