Photo Credit: www.morguefile.com

Scientists have uncovered the history of Ebola, and it dates back much further than they expected.

The research shows that filoviruses, a strain to which Ebola and its similarly lethal relative, Marburg, is at least 16-23 million years old.

Good news is the discovery could help find new ways to create a vaccine.

The research does not provide the age of the modern-day Ebola virus.

Instead, it shows how Ebola and Marburg are each members of ancient evolutionary lines, and that these two viruses mutated down the line and last shared a common ancestor sometime prior to 16-23 million years ago.