What you need to know about Ebola

Published March 30, 2018

What Is Ebola?
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal hemorrhagic disease that first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks. One outbreak was in Sudan and the other was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a village near the Ebola River -- from which the disease got its name. The Ebola pandemic in West Africa began in a small Guinea village in March 2014, and is the largest and most complex outbreak of the disease since it was discovered. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Ebola kills about 50 percent of people who become infected, but past outbreaks have seen fatality rates of up to 90 percent.

How is it spread?
Humans are not the natural host of Ebola virus, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the disease has been introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, organs or bodily fluids of infected animals like chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines. The disease is transmitted from human-to-human by direct contact with the blood, saliva, mucous or other bodily fluids of an infected person – or from contact with contaminated surfaces and materials. In countries where Ebola outbreaks have occurred, health aid workers are often at an increased risk for contracting and spreading the disease because the health care infrastructure does not provide for proper precautions to be taken. Burial ceremonies in these countries are another way the virus is spread when friends and family come in contact with deceased Ebola victims, according to the WHO.

What are symptoms?
Symptoms of Ebola virus infection can take anywhere from 2 to 21 days to appear, and can include sudden onset of fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. Humans are not considered infectious until the onset of symptoms. As the illness progresses, patients may experience vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, the CDC says, both internal and external bleeding.

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