The nearly simultaneous occurrence of major epidemics of acute hemorrhagic fever with high mortality in Sudan (1) and Zaire (2) during late 1976 serves as a poignant reminder that infectious "plagues" have not been, nor are they likely soon to be, eliminated from our world. The causative agent of these epidemics was found to be a virus new to science and was named Ebola after a small river near Yambuku, Zaire, a disease epicenter where the initial isolate was made.
Until effective vaccines are developed for Hazard Group IV agents, careful management of patients and surveillance of their close contacts, along with active study of cases in countries where infection is endemic, offer the only rational way to deal with agents sometimes viewed as Andromeda's children (15). (KARL M. JOHNSON, M.D.: Special Pathogens Branch, Virology Division, Bureau of Laboratories, Center for Disease Control; Atlanta, Georgia)
(Note: Group IV refers to the wildfire class pathogens we now call BSL4)
