EBOLA VIRUS Ebola virus, a member of the Filoviridae, burst from obscurity with spectacular outbreaks of severe, haemorrhagic fever. It was first associated with an outbreak of 318 cases and a case-fatality rate of 90% in Zaire and caused 150 deaths among 250 cases in Sudan. Smaller outbreaks continue to appear periodically, particularly in East, Central and southern Africa. In 1989, a haemorrhagic disease was recognized among cynomolgus macaques imported into the United States from the Philippines. Strains of Ebola virus were isolated from these monkeys. Serologic studies in the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia indicat