Paris (AFP)

Reminder of the main epidemics of Ebola in Africa since 1976. The milestone of 2,000 deaths was crossed Friday in the epidemic currently raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected Saturday in the DRC to support the fight against Ebola.

The "outbreaks" of Ebola in Africa have, since 1976, nearly 15,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

- Spotted in Central Africa -

The "Ebola virus disease" (formerly known as "Ebola haemorrhagic fever") takes its name from the Ebola River, located in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, Zaire) where the virus was spotted for the first time in 1976.

At this time, the epidemic in this isolated region of Central Africa is 431 deaths: 280 in the DRC and 151 in Sudan, according to figures from the American CDC (Center for Disease Control).

Three years later, the virus reappears in the same region of southern Sudan, killing 22 people.

In addition to the Zaire strain, four other types of Ebola virus were subsequently identified: Sudan, Bundibugyo, Reston and Taï Forest.

- Kikwit in 1995 -

In May 1995, Ebola haemorrhagic fever resurfaced in DRC, in the forested Kikwit region in the south-west of the country. The epidemic is developing rapidly, killing 250 people out of the 315 cases reported, an 81% mortality rate (CDC).

This virus, which is transmitted through direct contact with the blood, body secretions, the careless handling of contaminated cadavers, does not spare the nursing staff often exercising in destitution.

- Uganda in 2000-2001 -

In September 2000, an Ebola outbreak hit Uganda for the first time (Sudan strain), affecting the regions of Gulu (north), Masindi (north-west) and Mbarara (south-west). In five months, 425 people contract the virus that killed 224 people.

- Outbreaks in Gabon and Congo -

Already affected three times between 1994 and 1997, Gabon is again affected between October 2001 and May 2002 by an outbreak of Ebola type Zaire.

The epidemic strikes the province of Ogooue-Ivindo (north-east), already affected, and makes 53 deaths out of a total of 65 cases listed. The virus spreads to neighboring Congo, where it kills 44 people.

At the beginning of 2003, the epidemic left again in Congo, and made 128 deaths out of 143 people contaminated, a mortality rate of 90%. The department of Cuvette-Ouest (north-west) is particularly affected. Populations have allegedly manipulated carcasses of monkeys that have succumbed to the Ebola virus.

A few months later, a third episode of fever made about thirty victims in the region.

- More than 11,000 deaths in West Africa -

The deadliest epidemic to date was in West Africa in December 2013, and lasted more than two years, killing more than 11,300 people out of 29,000 reported cases.

Victims were 99% concentrated in three neighboring countries: Guinea, where the epidemic started (more than 2,500 dead), Sierra Leone (more than 3,900 dead) and Liberia, which paid the heaviest. tribute with the death of 4,800 people.

This assessment, which the WHO itself considers undervalued, has exceeded by seven times the total number of deaths caused by Ebola since the identification of the virus in Central Africa in 1976.

- Epidemic in the DRC -

The epidemic that has hit eastern DRC (mainly the provinces of North Kivu, Ituri, South Kivu) since August 2018, is the worst since the epidemic that hit West Africa at the end of 2013. to 2016.

This outbreak - the 10th in the DRC since 1976 - has made 2,006 deaths according to a balance established Friday by the Congolese health authorities.

© 2019 AFP