3. Outbreak (1995)
Motaba. This is the deadly disease that the protagonists are up against in Outbreak. It originates from the former Zaire (People's Democratic Republic of Congo) and it is a viral hemorrhagic fever along the lines of Ebola. The first outbreak in Africa was in 1967 and the authorities bombed the infected area, keeping schtum about the incident. Motaba resurfaces in Africa again in 1995. Virologist Sam Davies (Dustin Hoffman) and his crew are sent to investigate. Some bright spark illegally brings back an infected monkey to the US which is subsequently stolen from the lab and sold on the black market. The monkey ends up in Cedar Creek, California where it infects some people. Motaba mutates into a supervirus that spreads like the flu. The authorities want to bomb Cedar Creek but the monkey is captured and a serum is found that saves the town's inhabitants. Interestingly, an outbreak of Ebola struck down a village in Zaire a few months after the film was released. As a viral hemorrhagic fever, Motaba like its Ebola brethren, causes vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, fever, bleeding disorders, shock and death. There is no vaccine against Ebola - unlike the fictional Motaba but you would still rather catch a cold than Motaba.