The Yambuku Mission Hospital

Ebola announced itself in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks — one in Sudan and one in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire). The Congo outbreak centered on Yambuku Mission Hospital, where nuns unknowingly spread the virus by reusing unsterilized needles on hundreds of patients.

The 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak infected 28,600 people and killed 11,300 across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Case fatality ran close to 40%, and health systems collapsed. Burial traditions involving contact with the dead turned funerals into super-spreader events.