Human Ebola epidemics, like the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are known to start from a contact with wildlife infected with Ebola virus. In the early 2000s a series of such outbreaks in Central Africa began from different infected animal sources. In response, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and NIH (National Institutes of Health) scientists partnered with the Republic of Congo Ministry of Health to develop a low-cost educational outreach program and surveillance system for wildlife mortality that has continued now for over a decade. While the region is a high-risk zone, Republic of Congo has not had a human case or detection of Ebola virus since 2005. The study authors provide the first description of the early warning system for Ebola in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
