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 became extinct. As the number of susceptible hosts declines, so does the effective population size and its genetic diversity. This genetic bottleneck effect has implications for the species' ability to cause Ebola virus disease in human hosts. "Zaire ebolavirus -"Makona variant caused the 2014 West Africa outbreak. The outbreak was characterized by the longest instance of human-to-human transmission of the viral species. Pressures to adapt to the human host were seen at this time, however, there were no phenotypic changes in the virus (such as increased transmission, increased immune evasion by the virus) were seen. Zaire ebolavirus The species Zaire