In mid-September 2007, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) confirmed an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in some remote communities in the province of Kasai Occidental. A team of experts from the ministry and WHO quickly launched a disease control campaign. The team included epidemiologists, virologists, logisticians and experts in social mobilization, infection control, medical anthropology and laboratory diagnosis. The team often had to travel by foot and boats to reach these communities.