The disease was first identified in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, and the other in Yambuku, a village near the Ebola River from which the disease takes its name. EVD outbreaks occur intermittently in tropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa.Between 1976 and 2013, the World Health Organization reports a total of 24 outbreaks involving 1,716 cases.The largest outbreak to date was the epidemic in West Africa, which occurred from December 2013 to January 2016 with 28,657 cases and 11,325 deaths. It was declared no longer an emergency on 29 March 2016