Ebola: What is This Disease?

Ebola is the common term for a group of viruses which cause Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Mortality rates are generally high, ranging from 50% - 90%, with the cause of death usually due to hypovolemic shock or multiple organ failure.

The virus is named after the Ebola River in the African nation-state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaïre), near the site of the first outbreaks. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been the site of four recent outbreaks, including one in May 2005.
What are the syptoms?

Symptoms are varied and often appear suddenly.
Initial symptoms include: high fever, severe headache, muscle, joint, or abdominal pain, severe weakness and exhaustion. The victim may also experience sore throat, nausea, and dizziness. These early symptoms are easily mistaken for malaria, typhoid fever, and influenza, which are all far more common.
As the disease progresses, symptoms include: diarrhea, vomiting blood, red eyes from swollen blood vessels, red spots on the skin from subcutaneous bleeding, and bleeding internally and externally from any orifice, including from the nose, mouth, rectum, genitals or needle puncture sites.

The span of time from onset of symptoms to death is usually between 7 and 14 days.

How is it transmitted?
In humans, it is transmitted through direct contact with infected body fluids.
No one knows where the virus occurs in nature.

According to Wikipedia, all epidemics of Ebola so far have occurred in sub-optimal hospital conditions, where practices of basic hygiene and sanitation are often either luxuries or unknown to caretakers and where disposable needles are unavailable or too expensive.

Can it be cured? How is it treated?
Severe cases require intensive supportive care, as patients are frequently dehydrated and in need of intravenous fluids or oral rehydration with solutions containing electrolytes.
Some monkeys have survived but there has not been anything developed for humans.
In early 2006, scientists at USAMRIID announced a 75% recovery rate after infecting four rhesus monkeys with Ebola virus and administering antisense drugs.

Is their a vaccine?
Early human vaccine efforts have so far not reported any successes.

According to the WHO, approximately 1,850 cases with over 1,200 deaths have been documented since the Ebola virus was discovered.

A similar disease is the Marburg Virus.
The Marburg virus is the causative agent of Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Both the disease and virus are related to Ebola and originate in the same part of Africa. The zoonosis is of unknown origin, but some scientists believe it may be hosted by bats.

The disease is spread through bodily fluids. There is no cure or vaccine for this deadly and infectious virus. Victims suffer a high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and severe bleeding from bodily orifices and usually die within a week. Fatality rates range from 25 to 100%.

In the spring of 2005, the virus attracted widespread press attention for an outbreak in Angola. The outbreak was the world's worst epidemic of any kind of hemorrhagic fever.