Spread of Ebola

Map of the Spread of Ebola Since 1976, Determined Through Phylogeography Modeling

Phylogeography studies the mechanisms that contribute to the distribution and migration of organisms. Here, we focus on tracing the origin and spread of Ebola in western Africa to other African regions and internationally.

Our research has shown that Ebola originated in central to west Africa in the vicinity of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the mid 1960s. Since that time there have been several outbreaks, the first occurring in 1976 when Ebola was first reported. The 2014 Ebola outbreak has prompted a great deal of concern regarding potential spread to the international scene with the advent of many new cases appearing in the United States and Europe due to travel.

In the future, our phylogeographic reconstructions will contribute to modeling the movement of Ebola in airline passengers by providing a baseline for possible migratory movements using genomic data.