Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo and the Republic of Zaire, before returning to its current name the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the time of independence, the country was named the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville to distinguish it from its neighbour the Republic of the Congo-Brazzaville. With the promulgation of the Luluabourg Constitution on 1 August 1964, the country became the DRC, but was renamed to Zaire (a past name for the Congo River) on 27 October 1971 by President Mobutu Sese Seko as part of his "Authenticité" initiative. The word "Zaire" is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word "nzere" ("river"), a
Zaire ebolavirus Zaire ebolavirus The species Zaire ebolavirus is a virological taxon included in the genus "Ebolavirus", family "Filoviridae", order "Mononegavirales". The species has a single virus member, Ebola virus (EBOV), and it is the type species for the genus "Ebolavirus". The members of the species are called Zaire ebolaviruses. The name "Zaire ebolavirus" is derived from "Zaire" and the taxonomic suffix "ebolavirus" (which denotes an ebolavirus species and refers to the Ebola River). According to the rules for taxon naming established by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), the name "Zaire ebolavirus" is always to be capitalized, italicized, and