Ebola

Lore & Background

Symptoms typically start between two days and three weeks after infection, beginning with fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and hepatic and renal dysfunction. Internal and external bleeding may occur five to seven days after symptoms begin, with heavy bleeding uncommon but often gastrointestinal. Death, if it occurs, typically follows six to sixteen days after first symptoms, often due to shock from fluid loss. Recovery may begin between seven and fourteen days after first symptoms; survivors may have ongoing muscular and joint pain, liver inflammation, and decreased hearing.

Reader's Guide

Control requires coordinated medical services, community engagement, rapid detection, contact tracing, and proper disposal of the dead. Prevention includes wearing protective clothing, hand washing, and thoroughly cooking bushmeat. Two treatments—atoltivimab/maftivimab/odesivimab and ansuvimab—have improved outcomes. Early supportive care, including oral rehydration therapy or intravenous fluids, considerably increases survival rate. The disease spreads through direct contact with body fluids; no airborne transmission between humans or other primates has been documented. Fruit bats are believed to be the natural host, able to spread the virus without being affected.

Did You Know?

• The incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days, with about 5% of cases possibly taking longer than 21 days.
• Survivors develop antibodies that last at least 10 years, but it is unclear if they are immune to additional infections.