• The findings, published on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, suggest the outbreak began with a fresh animal-to-human ​transmission ​event and was then spread ​between people. Advertisement Advertisement• The study did ‌not identify the animal source of the outbreak, but Ebola viruses are known to spill over periodically from infected animals to humans. • The genetic analysis helped confirm that cases detected in Uganda were linked to the outbreak in Congo. • ‌The study's authors said wider access ​to testing and virus sequencing could ​help detect future Ebola ​outbreaks earlier and improve efforts to contain ‌them. • The outbreak was declared on May 15 and has ​surpassed 2,000 deaths, ‌with 4,381 confirmed cases so far, according to ​the latest government data.