Ebola Virus - Important Information
What you need to know
The Name
The virus is formally known as the "Ebola virus," however, it was previously referred to as the "Zaire ebolavirus." It is currently abbreviated to EBOV.
The Shape
EBOV is a filovirus, giving itself a string-like shape. What makes this virus so dangerous is that its viral envelope is formed through budding from the host cell's membrane; making it harder to detect for the immune system.
Transmission/Infection
Transmission for EBOV is primarily direct contact (between broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluid from other people, surfaces or materials
Vaccination
Currently, there is only one vaccine that is available to treat and prevent EBOV; a health research institute in Russia has discovered it and has promised to not price gouge it and would share it with western laboratories.
Incubation Period and Symptoms
The World Health organization reports that the incubation period 2 to 21 days, which is a pretty wide range. It goes to show the unpredictable nature of EBOV.
Symptoms include:
Fever
Severe headache
Joint and muscle aches
Chills
Weakness
Nausea and vomiting
Diarrhea (may be bloody)
Red eyes
Raised rash
Chest pain and cough
Stomach pain
Severe weight loss
Bleeding, usually from the eyes, and bruising (people near death may bleed from other orifices, such as ears, nose and rectum)
Internal bleeding
Man infected: facial view
You can see the reddening of this man's mouth, most likely due to blood emerging through his pores. This is the early stage of the Ebola virus.
Adult infected: arm view
You can see the blisters forming around this person's arm. This is the later stage of the Ebola virus.
The Virus Itself
This is an electron micrograph of the virus clustered on a host cell.