Ebola River

Template:Short description Template:Infobox river The Ebola River (Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> also commonly known by its Ngbandi name Legbala,<ref name="Tanghe">Template:Cite journal</ref> is the headstream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo River, in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo.<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> It is roughly Template:Convert in length.Template:Cn

The name Ebola is a French corruption of Legbala, its name in Ngbandi which means 'white water'.<ref name="Wordsworth">Template:Cite journal</ref> During the Belgian administration these names were interchangeable along with the French names Eau Blanche<ref name="Tanghe"/> and rarely L'Ébola.<ref name="Wordsworth"/>

In 1976, Ebola virus was first identified in Yambuku, Template:Convert from the Ebola River, but the virologist Karl Johnson decided to name it after the river so that the town would not be associated with the disease's stigma.<ref name="Wordsworth"/> Thus, the river is eponymous to the terms Ebola virus, Ebolavirus, and Ebola virus disease (usually referred to as simply "Ebola").<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>