Mayinga N'Seka (1954 – October 19, 1976) was a nurse in

Zaïre Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

, now

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. She died from

Ebola virus disease Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infe ...

during the 1976 epidemic in Zaïre. She was incorrectly identified as the

index case The index case or patient zero is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population, or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study. It can also refer to the first case of a condition or syndrome (no ...

by several sources, but a

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

commission report on the outbreak lists a man from

Yambuku Yambuku is a small village in Mongala, Mongala Province in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was the center of the first documented outbreak of Ebola, Ebola virus disease, in 1976, with the World Health Organization identifying a man fr ...

, Mabalo Lokela, as the index case. Lokela, a 44-year-old who had been buying meat in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, died on September 8, 1976, over a month before N'Seka.

Biography

N'Seka worked as a nurse at Mbalad Hospital in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

and contracted Ebola after caring for a Roman Catholic nun who had flown in for treatment from the

Mission Hospital, where the outbreak began. Mayinga died at Ngaleima Hospital on October 19, 1976. There were 318 cases in that outbreak, which had an 88% mortality rate. In his book about the 1976 outbreak, ''Ebola'', William Close writes that N'Seka had treated a nun, Sister Fermina, who worked at the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

mission in Yambuku, the center of the outbreak. Another nun and a priest had also been brought to the capital for treatment. Officials hurried to find N'Seka's contacts in the city, including staff of the United States Embassy (where she had been finalizing a student visa). Fermina died at the hospital in Kinshasa while trying to return to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

so a diagnosis on the disease could be performed. The highly infectious and deadly nature of the disease was still unknown when N'Seka treated Fermina, and no special precautions were taken to prevent contact with the nun's blood or

fluids In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that may continuously move and deform (''flow'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot res ...

. The 22-year-old N'Seka was preparing to travel to America to study advanced nursing on a scholarship at the time of her death.

Legacy

The variant of the

Ebola virus ''Orthoebolavirus zairense'' or Zaire ebolavirus, more commonly known as Ebola virus (; EBOV), is one of six known species within the genus ''Ebolavirus''. Four of the six known ebolaviruses, including EBOV, cause a severe and often fatal vira ...

that infected N'Seka was originally named " Zaïre virus strain Mayinga" (now Ebola virus variant Mayinga; EBOV/May), and is the prototype virus for the species ''

Zaire ebolavirus ''Orthoebolavirus zairense'' or Zaire ebolavirus, more commonly known as Ebola virus (; EBOV), is one of six known species within the genus ''Ebolavirus''. Four of the six known ebolaviruses, including EBOV, cause a severe and often fatal hem ...

'', which is itself the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

for the genus ''

Ebolavirus The genus ''Ebolavirus'' (- or ; - or ) is a International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, virological taxon included in the family ''Filoviridae'' (filament-shaped viruses), order ''Mononegavirales''. The members of this genus are called ebo ...

''. N'Seka's blood has also been used all over the world in procuring various strain frequencies and structures about Ebola virus. No agreement was made with the government to distribute it.

References

1954 births 1976 deaths Democratic Republic of the Congo nurses Infectious disease deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Deaths from Ebola {{med-bio-stub