All human Ebola virus outbreaks during 2001–2003 in the forest zone between Gabon and Republic of Congo resulted from handling infected wild animal carcasses. After the first outbreak, we created an Animal Mortality Monitoring Network in collaboration wit

possibly prevent human Ebola outbreaks. Since August 2001, 98 wild animal carcasses have been recovered by the network, including 65 great apes. Analysis of 21 car-casses found that 10 gorillas, 3 chimpanzees, and 1 duiker tested positive for Ebola virus. Wild animal outbreaks began before each of the 5 human Ebola outbreaks. Twice we alerted the health authorities to an imminent risk for human outbreaks, weeks before they occurred. Ebola virus, a member of the Filoviridae family, causessevere hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. The human case-fatality rate ranged from 50 % to 89%, according to the viral subtype, from the first out-breaks in Zaire and Sudan in 1976 to the 2003 outbreaks in the Republic of Congo (1–4). No effective therapy or pro-phylaxis exists, and Ebola is a major public health concern. The first recorded human Ebola outbreaks (Yambuku Zair