The Waves of Ebola Virus: A Historical and Epidemiological Perspective with the Role of the Armed Conflicts

Document Type : Review Articles

Authors

1 IIHMR University, 1, Prabhu Dayal Marg, Near Sanganer Airport, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 302029, India

2 Department of chemistry, Gujarat University, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad – 380009, Gujarat, India

10.21608/fpmpeb.2025.393332.1015

Abstract

Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is an endemic disease in many African countries, first recorded in Sudan (now South Sudan) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1976. During these initial outbreaks, the case fatality rate (CFR) reached 53% in South Sudan and 88% in the DRC, underscoring the extreme virulence of Ebola virus disease (EVD) from its earliest appearances. Over the decades following these events, including the 2018–2020 outbreak—the second largest in the history of the disease—EVD resulted in 3,470 cases and 2,287 deaths. Armed conflicts have been a major factor in facilitating transmission, as population displacement from conflict zones or migration for economic reasons can trigger new waves of infection across borders. In this context, the ongoing conflict in Sudan and the large number of refugees crossing into Egypt pose a potential challenge for the Egyptian health sector, despite the absence of officially reported cases to date. Objective: This review synthesizes the historical evolution and epidemiology of EVD in conflict-affected regions and discusses implications for surveillance, early diagnosis, and outbreak control among displaced populations.

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Copyright: © [2025] El-Ghandour   et al . This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Future Perspectives of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Biotechnology
Volume 2, Issue 2
October 2025
Pages 51-61

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