Ebola
Also called: Ebola virus disease, Sudan virus, Zaire virus
What is Ebola?
Ebola is a contagious and life-threatening disease caused by several types of Ebola virus, including the Sudan virus or Zaire virus. Ebola occasionally causes outbreaks in some African countries. During outbreaks, people can stay safe by staying away from areas where they're happening, avoiding contact with infected people or animals, and getting vaccinated when appropriate.
Ebola (ee-BOE-luh) affects humans and other primates, like monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees. It causes the body's immune system to go into overdrive — which can lead to fever, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes bleeding. It can also lead to organ failure and death. Quick medical treatment is important.
What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Ebola?
The first signs of Ebola can appear from 2 to 21 days after someone has been exposed to the virus. Most people's symptoms begin 6 to 12 days after exposure.
Early symptoms of Ebola include:
- fever
- headache
- joint and muscle aches
- weakness and tiredness
- sore throat
- chills
- vomiting
- diarrhea
As the disease progresses, other symptoms can include:
- skin rash
- chest and stomach pain
- trouble with breathing or swallowing
- bleeding inside and outside the body
In its later stages, Ebola can lead to severe bleeding, coma, organ failure, and death.
How Does Ebola Spread?
Doctors aren't always sure how the first person gets Ebola at the start of an outbreak. But they think that people may pick up the virus from contact with the body fluids of infected animals or from eating their undercooked meat. Tropical animals in Africa believed to carry the virus include gorillas, monkeys, fruit bats, porcupines, and forest antelope.
Ebola can spread in different ways, mainly through:
- handling or touching infected body fluids, like blood, pee, poop, vomit, or saliva of a person or animal infected with the disease
- contact with contaminated objects containing infected blood or fluids
- breastfeeding. A breastfeeding mother with Ebola can pass the virus to her baby through her breast milk.
- sexual contact with an infected person, including vaginal, oral, or anal sex
Ebola can spread quickly within families and in health centers if caregivers or others don't wear proper protective gear.
How Contagious Is It?
With Ebola, a person is contagious after they start to feel sick with symptoms from the virus. People stay contagious for as long as the virus is in their blood and body fluids, even if their symptoms stop. It can take weeks or even months before a person can no longer spread the virus.
How Is Ebola Diagnosed?
A blood test can confirm if a person has the Ebola virus. Early and accurate diagnosis of Ebola is important to help prevent the spread of the disease. But because early symptoms are similar to those caused by other common diseases, it can be hard to diagnose Ebola quickly.
Someone with Ebola symptoms who has been in an area where the virus is known to exist needs to be isolated from other people right away. The person should be examined by trained health professionals who wear proper protective gear.
How Is Ebola Treated?
Most people who get Ebola need care in a hospital or other well-equipped medical center. Treatment involves:
- staying well hydrated
- maintaining healthy oxygen and blood pressure levels
- replacing lost blood through transfusions (donated blood)
- medicines or therapies for symptoms and problems that develop. Some people are given monoclonal antibodies, a medicine that helps treat some types of the virus.
Patients also need to be isolated during treatment to help prevent the spread of the disease.
Can Ebola Be Prevented?
There is a vaccine to prevent some types of Ebola. It is offered to people who have been exposed to the virus or who are at risk for exposure (such as health care workers caring for Ebola patients).
The best way to guard against Ebola infection is to avoid areas with outbreaks. Those traveling to Africa can check the CDC's Ebola website to see if any outbreaks are happening at the time of travel.
People who must go to an area with Ebola should avoid contact with infected people, wash their hands often, and not touch or eat wild animals (sometimes called "bush meat"). Those working with Ebola patients must wear head-to-toe protective gear with no skin exposed. Contaminated surfaces and gear need to be properly disinfected.
Ebola is one of the deadliest known diseases. But with early, aggressive treatment and new breakthroughs, doctors are having more success than ever treating it.
