Have you heard of the new virus called Ebola? Ebola is an infectious and generally fatal marked by fever and severe internal bleeding, spread through contact with infected body fluids by a filovirus (Ebola virus), whose normal host species is unknown. It is spread through direct contact or with other objects like needles that have been contaminated. Ebola was discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River. Signs and symptoms of Ebola includes fever greater than 101.5’F and severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, or unexplained bleeding or bruising. Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure, although 8 to 10 are most common. Back in March, an outbreak of Ebola was found in the forest region of Guinea. It spread into Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria. It has been found in several African countries and it has not been found in the United States. The CDC has deployed several teams of public health experts to the West Africa region and plans to send additional public health experts to the affected countries to expand current response activities from the U.S.
A map of the Ebola outbreak in Africa. Courtesy of Bing Images