Ep 92 The Ebola: Outbreak (1995), Real-Life Ebola Virus Disease, and a Five-Spirit Pitcher Pour

This week, we're pouring "The Ebola" — a five-spirit pitcher pour that's not for the faint of heart — and revisiting Wolfgang Petersen's 1995 thriller Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, as our jumping-off point for a real deep dive into Ebola virus disease. We trace the virus from its 1976 discovery near the Ebola River through the devastating 2013–2016 West Africa outbreak, and walk through how it actually spreads, what it does to the body, how it's diagnosed, and the treatments and vaccine that have genuinely changed the odds of survival in the last decade. We also round up a few other Ebola-adjacent films and documentaries worth knowing about — including one we went looking for and simply couldn't find streaming in the U.S. Sources & further reading Outbreak (1995) — Wikipedia Outbreak (1995) — IMDb Orphans of Ebola — TMDB E-bola (2015) — IMDb Movies About Ebola & Disease History — Borgen Project Duke Global Health — Ebola Film Series The Ebola cocktail recipe — Cocktail Builder About Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers Medical & scientific references Malvy D, McElroy AK, de Clerck H, Günther S, van Griensven J. "Ebola Virus Disease." The Lancet, 2019. Moso MA, Lim CK, Williams E, et al. "Prevention and Post-Exposure Management of Occupational Exposure to Ebola Virus." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2024. Letafati A, Salahi Ardekani O, Karami H, Soleimani M. "Ebola Virus Disease: A Narrative Review." Microbial Pathogenesis, 2023. Umar SK, Diggle MA. "The Ebola Virus — Going Beyond the Bleeding Edge." Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2025. Meakin S, Nsio J, Camacho A, et al. "Effectiveness of rVSV-ZEBOV Vaccination During the 2018–20 Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Retrospective Test-Negative Study." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2024. Feldmann H, Sprecher A, Geisbert TW. "Ebola." The New England Journal of Medicine, 2020. Kuehn R, Ryan H, Okwaraeke KC, et al. "Vaccines for Preventing Ebola Virus Disease." The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2024. Choi MJ, Cossaboom CM, Whitesell AN, et al. "Use of Ebola Vaccine: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, United States, 2020." MMWR Recommendations and Reports, 2021. Mukadi-Bamuleka D, Bulabula-Penge J, De Weggheleire A, et al. "Field Performance of Three Ebola Rapid Diagnostic Tests Used During the 2018–20 Outbreak in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2022. Wonderly B, Jones S, Gatton ML, et al. "Comparative Performance of Four Rapid Ebola Antigen-Detection Lateral Flow Immunoassays During the 2014–2016 Ebola Epidemic in West Africa." PLoS One, 2018. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Clinical Guidance for Ebola Disease." 2026. El Ayoubi LW, Mahmoud O, Zakhour J, Kanj SS. "Recent Advances in the Treatment of Ebola Disease: A Brief Overview." PLoS Pathogens, 2024. Rojek A, Fieggen J, Apiyo P, et al. "Ebola Disease: Bridging Scientific Discoveries and Clinical Application." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2025. Bahadir Z, Narayan P, Wolters R, et al. "Monoclonal Antibodies for Pediatric Viral Disease Prevention and Treatment." Pediatrics, 2025. Kallay R, Doshi RH, Muhoza P, et al. "Use of Ebola Vaccines — Worldwide, 2021–2023." MMWR, 2024. Muyembe JJ, Pan H, Peto R, et al. "Ebola Outbreak Response in the DRC with rVSV-ZEBOV-GP Ring Vaccination." The New England Journal of Medicine, 2024. Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.