Ebola virus
A filament-shaped virus that causes severe hemorrhagic disease.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with infectious body fluids, not ordinary airborne transmission.
Survivors can retain virus in certain immune-protected body sites for a period after recovery.
The case-fatality rate varies greatly between outbreaks and improves with timely, effective care.
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Ebola virus can cause Ebola virus disease, a severe illness marked by fever, systemic inflammation, and damage to multiple organs. Outbreaks are uncommon but can grow rapidly without early detection, protective care, and community cooperation.
Ebola virus belongs to the family Filoviridae and genus Orthoebolavirus. It is one of several related orthoebolaviruses, not all of which have caused disease in people.
The physical architecture and genetic material of the pathogen.
Ebola virions are enveloped and typically form long, flexible filaments that may curve into loops or branching shapes. A surface glycoprotein attaches to host cells, while internal proteins package and protect the RNA genome.
Clinical presentation, risk reduction, and approaches to care.
People become infected through direct contact of broken skin or mucous membranes with infected blood, secretions, organs, or other body fluids. Transmission can also occur through contaminated objects or infected wildlife; people are not contagious before symptoms begin.
Illness often begins suddenly with fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat. Vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney or liver function, and sometimes internal or external bleeding may follow.
Outbreak control depends on rapid diagnosis, isolation and care of patients, protective equipment, safe handling of bodies, contact monitoring, and community engagement. Vaccination can help prevent disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus in appropriate outbreak settings.
Early supportive care—including fluids, electrolytes, oxygen, and treatment of complications—improves survival. Monoclonal-antibody medicines are available for disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus, but they do not treat every orthoebolavirus species.
Defining moments in research, discovery, and public health.
Major outbreaks in what are now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan lead to identification of Ebola viruses.
West Africa experiences the largest recorded Ebola epidemic.
The first Ebola vaccine receives broad regulatory approval.
The virus was named after the Ebola River near the area investigated during the 1976 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Its filamentous particles can be much longer than most spherical viruses.
Genetic sequencing helps investigators connect cases and reconstruct chains of transmission during outbreaks.
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