The Ebola virus has recently been in the news again because of an outbreak in northern Uganda, an African country where the virus has never been reported. The Ebola virus causes a severe disease known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), which is often fatal. As of October 18th, 94 cases were suspected in the Ugandan outbreak, with 39 deaths. No cases of EHF have ever been reported in the U.S.

The Ebola virus is named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire), where the virus was first recognized in 1976. The virus is only thought to affect humans, monkeys, and chimpanzees. The only person to have gotten sick from this virus outside of Africa was a laboratory worker in England who suffered an accidental needle stick while working with the virus.

The virus generally occurs in outbreaks, or epidemics. This means that once the first person catches the infection, which is thought to come from an infected animal, the infection is rapidly spread to others around the first infected person. The exact way that the first person catches the infection from an animal is not known. Once a person catches the virus, it can be spread to other people through close contact. This is thought to be from exposure to the infected person's blood or other secretions (saliva, nasal secretions, urine, and feces). In a hospital setting, contaminated needles and lack of precautions, usually due to not recognizing the disease early enough, places other patients and hospital staff at risk.

The symptoms of Ebola virus can vary widely and often start out as very vague. Common early symptoms, which occur within a few days of becoming infected with the virus, include high fever, muscle aches, itchy eyes, diarrhea, headaches, stomach pain, and sore throat. A few days later, symptoms often progress rapidly to chest pain, shock, bleeding, and even death. The bleeding tendency and fever give EHF its name. At least half of the infected people died, even with treatment, in the outbreaks known so far.

EHF can be diagnosed by special blood tests in the setting of a known or suspected outbreak. However, there is no known treatment or cure for EHF. Treatment is "supportive," which means that fluids, oxygen and other measures are given as needed. It is not currently known why some people are able to survive and others aren't. The most important goal of health care providers when cases of EHF are identified is to prevent the spread of the disease to others, or "contain" the outbreak. This is done by isolating the people with the infection to prevent spread. Health care providers must also take special precautions, such as wearing masks, gloves, and gowns. Because of the seriousness of EHF, specialists are usually brought in from all over the world to help control an outbreak.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not believe that the current Ebola outbreak represents a threat to those in the U.S. It is important to remember that no cases of EHF have ever been reported in a human being in the U.S. Cases have been reported in monkeys that were shipped here from other countries, but no human illness has resulted from these infected animals.

There have only been about 1200 reported cases of Ebola since it was discovered, and half of these occurred in 1976, during two outbreaks that led to the discovery of the virus. Primarily because of this fact, there is much research left to be done regarding the Ebola virus. The first step is to identify the natural "hosts" of the virus, or the specific groups of animals that carry the virus and can spread it to humans. This will help communities form strategies to prevent EHF. Hopefully, a cure or vaccine will also eventually be developed.

While EHF is not currently a problem hence not a major concern for those outside certain parts of Africa to worry about but increased international travel and trade may someday bring the Ebola virus to live in other parts of the world. EHF is a rapidly developing, often fatal infection that currently has no known treatment or cure. In other words, Ebola is one scary virus!