Ebola River Explained

Ebola River
Map:Rio ebola.png
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:Democratic Republic of the Congo
Length:250km (160miles)
Mouth:Mongala River
Mouth Coordinates:3.3233°N 20.9606°W

The Ebola River (or),[1] [2] also commonly known by its Ngbandi name Legbala,[3] is the headstream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo River, in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo.[4] It is roughly 250km (160miles) in length.

The name Ebola is a French corruption of Legbala, its name in Ngbandi which means 'white water'.[5] During the Belgian administration these names were interchangeable along with the French names Eau Blanche[3] and rarely L'Ébola.[5]

In 1976, Ebola virus was first identified in Yambuku, 111km (69miles) from the Ebola River, but the virologist Karl Johnson decided to name it after the river so that the town would not be associated with the disease's stigma.[5] Thus, the river is eponymous to the terms Ebola virus, Ebolavirus, and Ebola virus disease (usually referred to as simply "Ebola").[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The American Heritage Dictionary entry: Ebola. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. The American Heritage Dictionary. 2020-04-15. 2021-07-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20210729180544/https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=ebola. live.
  2. Web site: Ebola | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Cambridge English Dictionary. 2020-04-15. 2018-01-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20180124205104/http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ebola. live.
  3. Tanghe . Basile . Vangele . A. . June 1939 . Région de la Haute Ebola: Notes d'histoire (1890-1900) . . 2 . 6 . 61–65 . fr . 25837382 . 2020-02-03 . 2020-07-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200711063728/http://www.aequatoria.be/04common/020publications_pdf/Aequatoria%201939.pdf#page=64 . live .
  4. Book: vanden Bossche. J.-P.. Bernacsek. G. M.. Zaire. Source Book for the Inland Fishery Resources of Africa . 18 . 1. 1990 . 336. 31 July 2014. 9789251029831.
  5. Wordsworth . Dot . 25 October 2014 . How Ebola got its name . . 26 October 2014 . 1 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191201184826/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/10/how-ebola-got-its-name/ . dead.
  6. News: Ebola outbreak confirmed by DR Congo . . 2014-08-25 . 2018-06-21 . 2018-12-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181228135106/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28922290 . live .

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