Kikwit, Zaire -- The international team investigating the epidemic of Ebola in Zaire has discovered a family that suffered a devastating loss to the disease in December: Seven of 12 family members died, all within a period of roughly two weeks around Christmas.

The family, according to scientists here working with the World Health Organization, are Jehovah's Witnesses. As such, they do not believe in consuming meat that is perfused with blood. Here, that translates into draining the blood from an animal while it is still alive.

Investigations are ongoing, but the scientists speculate that members of the family may have become exposed while preparing a meal of whatever animal actually carries the Ebola virus.

Scientists will now scour the areas of Kikwit from which the family's meat supply reportedly came in search of the until now mysterious source of the deadly hemorrhagic virus.

Another puzzle researchers will now focus upon concerns transmissions outside the family. So far, it seems the Jehovah's Witnesses group had few outside contacts, and that their Ebola episode was a dead end, not a contributor to the overall epidemic. But the search is on for connections between that family disaster and Kikwit's larger crisis.

Yesterday the epidemic reached a grim milestone, with more than 100 deaths having been reported since its onset.

The World Health Organization said that another four people died of Ebola in the Kikwit area, the epicenter of the epidemic, bringing the death toll to 101. They said another 36 people were infected.

A planeload of face masks, gloves and other protective clothing was rushed here.

Meanwhile, 250 miles away in the capital of Kinshasa, about 250 trucks loaded with produce rolled into city markets after the lifting of a 10-day quarantine on the region surrounding Kikwit.

The government ended the blockade of the entire Bandundu region Saturday after admitting that the quarantine was impossible to enforce.