[Ebola: a virus endemic to central Africa?]

From October 2001 to March 2002, an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever occurred in the North-Eastern Gabon (63 cases) and neighbouring Congo (57 cases). It was the fourth epidemic in North Eastern Gabon since 1994. Meanwhile this outbreak differed from the previous epidemics: at least five different emerging sources of the virus in the human population were observed from the local fauna resulting in fears of an endemic Ebola virus in the area. The control of the outbreak was uneasy because of the unfriendly attitude of the local population related to the restrictive measures for the isolation of suspected patients and the epidemiological surveillance. Such rejection process emphasizes the need of a continuous increasing public awareness.