The 'Ebola hunter': A man who spent over 4 decades battling one virus

The latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resulted in eight confirmed cases and six deaths since its declaration in October. This is a far cry from the 2018 to 2020 outbreak in the country — the second deadliest outbreak of the virus — which resulted in 3,323 confirmed cases and 2,299 deaths.

A lot of the progress that the country has made in its fight against the deadly virus can be attributed to a man known locally as the “Ebola hunter,” Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the general director of the National Institute for Biomedical Research in the DRC.

Muyembe was born in 1942 in what is now known as the Kwilu province, in the southwest of the DRC, to a farming family. As a boy, he attended a catholic boarding school where he discovered his passion for microbiology. He went on to obtain his medical degree at the University of Lovanium in the DRC and a doctorate in Virology from the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium. He then decided to return to his home country to address the health challenges faced by the population and became the first virologist to encounter the Ebola virus.

Muyembe’s relationship with the Ebola virus now spans over four decades. In 1976, he was called to respond to an outbreak of a mysterious disease in the central region of what was then Zaire. At the time, he said he was unaware of the risks he faced and credits his survival to a bit of luck and hand-washing.

"During this period, I was working with my bare hands, I did not have any protective clothing. If I didn't wash my hands regularly, I would have died," he said.

Blood samples extracted by Muyembe and sent to laboratories in Belgium and the United States led to the discovery of Ebola. But despite this discovery, Muyembe is often referred to as the man who discovered Ebola — but did not get the credit, as the discovery was mainly credited to Dr. Peter Piot, a microbiologist from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, who received the blood samples.

Undeterred, Muyembe has been on a quest to find a treatment for the virus that has killed over 3,000 of his countrymen since its discovery. In 1995, during another outbreak of the virus in the DRC, Muyembe injected Ebola patients with the blood of survivors to see if antibodies from survivors could be used as a treatment. Seven out of eight patients survived.

Dr. Bernard Kasereka, a vaccination officer, who worked with Muyembe during the 2018 outbreak said the numerous deaths that Muyembe encountered at the hands of the virus inspired him to search for a treatment.

“The population of North Kivu in particular was dying of Ebola,” he said. “It hurt and it pressed him to create an Ebola treatment.”

Muyembe’s persistence paid off as his test in 1995, led to the development of EBANGA — a monoclonal antibody called mAB114, which was developed from the blood of a person cured of Ebola during the Kikwit outbreak in 1995.

After finally finding a treatment for a virus that has plagued his home country for decades, Muyembe said “he is the happiest of the Congolese” because the virus has been “defeated” by a Congolese molecule.

“We tried the antibody in humans and injected it into Ebola patients who recovered. And it worked,” he said with a smile.

EBANGA has now been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The drug is administered as an injection and can be used to treat both children and adults. In clinical trials, the drug lowered the risk of dying from the infection — only 35% of patients treated with the drug died within 28 days, in comparison 49% of those treated with another experimental drug.

Muyembe’s persistence has also been noticed by the international community as he has gone on to scoop numerous awards that include the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 7th International Symposium on Filoviruses, the  2015 Christophe Mérieux Prize and the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize for 2019. In 2020 he was named as one of the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.

Though Muyembe shies away from discussing his many successes, he has become a symbol of hope for the numerous health professionals he mentors. Kasereka described meeting and working with Muyembe as “one of the best opportunities” he has ever had in his career.

"Despite his distinguished career, he is an approachable, simple and kind person,” he said. “ It is very easy to work with him because he is a good mentor.”

In his tribute to Muyembe for Time Magazine’s 100 most influential list, Nobel Prize Winner and gynecologist, Dr. Denis Mukwege, said Muyembe’s work has greatly benefited the entire world and applauded his dedication and perseverance.

“For five decades, he has been a model of excellence for humanity as he gives hope to the most vulnerable. Dr. Muyembe is among the exceptional men who advance science and truly make a difference,” he said.

Looking ahead, the virologist is reluctant to point to a new line of research or virus he has set his sights on, but instead points to the need to build the research capacity in the DRC — to ensure the country is able to meet the challenges presented by new diseases — as his next challenge.