Virologists made a scary new discovery in the investigation of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea.

It’s a new strain of the virus.

Researchers say that the discovery means that the outbreak has no connection to any previous outbreak in Africa.  Ebola has a pattern of outbreak in the western parts of the country and the surprise outbreak in east Africa caught many health officials by surprise.

The scientists say that the new virus has been confirmed to have the same unknown ancestor of the western viruses.  They say the virus likely was introduced into the region in December 2013.

The virus was also found in fruit bats within the region and it’s possible that the virus had mutated within the bats.

The virologists say that the new strain could be a potential catastrophe among the region as the area has never experienced a major Ebola outbreak until now.