What is it?

• The Zaire Ebola Virus is a severe, often-fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees) that has appeared from time to time since its initial recognition in 1976.
  


• The virus takes its name from the Ebola River in Zaire (Now Democratic Republic of the Congo) where the disease was first observed.
  


• It is spread by contact of an infected person’s bodily fluids or simply inhaled by airborne particles from infected areas where the Ebola Virus dwells.


• The Ebola Virus is an extremely contagious disease that is discovered to cause fatal hemorrhagic fevers. This hemorrhagic fever virus is associated with rapidly progressing severe disease with a high mortality rate, making them a dangerous threat to the public health.
  


• After the first case-patient in an outbreak setting is infected, the virus can be transmitted in several ways. People can be exposed to Ebola virus from direct contact with the blood and/or of an infected person.

• In African health-care facilities, patients are often cared for without the use of a mask, gown, or gloves. Exposure to the virus has occurred when health care workers treated individuals with the Ebola without wearing these types of protective clothing. In addition, when needles or syringes are used, they may not be of the disposable type, or may not have been sterilized, but only rinsed before reinsertion into multi-use vials of medicine. If needles or syringes become contaminated with virus and are then reused, numerous people can become infected.