<P> A study of 44 survivors of the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone reported musculoskeletal pain in 70%, headache in 48%, and eye problems in 14% . </P> <P> The disease typically occurs in outbreaks in tropical regions of Sub-Saharan Africa . From 1976 (when it was first identified) through 2013, the WHO reported 1,716 confirmed cases . The largest outbreak to date was the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, which caused a large number of deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia . </P> <P> The first known outbreak of EVD was identified only after the fact . It occurred between June and November 1976 in Nzara, South Sudan (then part of Sudan), and was caused by Sudan virus (SUDV). The Sudan outbreak infected 284 people and killed 151 . The first identifiable case in Sudan occurred on 27 June in a storekeeper in a cotton factory in Nzara, who was hospitalized on 30 June and died on 6 July . Although the WHO medical staff involved in the Sudan outbreak knew that they were dealing with a heretofore unknown disease, the actual "positive identification" process and the naming of the virus did not occur until some months later in Zaire . </P> <P> On 26 August 1976, a second outbreak of EVD began in Yambuku, a small rural village in Mongala District in northern Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). This outbreak was caused by EBOV, formerly designated Zaire ebolavirus, a different member of the genus Ebolavirus than in the first Sudan outbreak . The first person infected with the disease was the village school's headmaster Mabalo Lokela, who began displaying symptoms on 26 August 1976 . Lokela had returned from a trip to Northern Zaire near the border of the Central African Republic, after visiting the Ebola River between 12 and 22 August . He was originally believed to have malaria and given quinine . However, his symptoms continued to worsen, and he was admitted to Yambuku Mission Hospital on 5 September . Lokela died on 8 September, 14 days after he began displaying symptoms . </P>

How did the first case of ebola start