1. Viruses and Ebola Human rhinovirus: causes the common cold
Streptococcus: causes strep throat
Herpes simplex: causes cold sores

2. What is a virus?
Viruses are tiny particles: 1/1000th the size of a bacteria.
They have DNA or RNA and a protein capsule
They can only reproduce inside a host cell
They bridge the gap between living and non-living things

3. How a virus infects the host
The virus attaches to the host cell
It injects its DNA into the cell
The viral DNA takes over the cell machinery
The cell is now making 1000s of viruses
The viruses leave the cell to infect more host cells

4. Immune response: fighting off the virus
Fever- slows the viral replication process.
Antibodies work to clear the virus.
Immunizations (if available) pre-arm the immune system to prevent infection if we’re exposed.
Antibodies attach to invading viruses,
preventing them from entering cells

5. Things to know about Ebola
It is named after the Ebola river in Zaire, Africa
First outbreak was in 1976
Very infectious A very small amount of virus can cause sickness
Not extremely contagious it’s passed from the fluids of the infected person to another.

6. It’s not that contagious, really
A comparison of reproduction numbers, or R0s, for several viruses. R0 is one measure of contagiousness. Each person who contracts the virus spreads it, on average, to one or two other people. It's not as contagious as HIV, SARS or measles.

7. You can’t get Ebola by……
A CDC poster shows ways Ebola isn't spread.
Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids, such as blood, sweat, saliva, breast milk, feces, urine and semen.
Infectious disease specialists say Ebola isn't an airborne disease, like the flu.

8. But it can be dangerous
While Ebola isn't the deadliest contagious disease, outbreaks can have fatality rates up to 90 percent, according to the World Health Organization.
The fatality rate for the current outbreak is estimated to be about 70 percent.

9. Ebola symptoms

10. What’s my risk of catching Ebola?
The risk of Ebola infection remains vanishingly small in this country

11. How big is Africa?
This illustration shows how many countries and regions could fit inside "the cradle of humankind."
The Ebola outbreak remains in West Africa only, and countries other than those bordering Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone aren't considered to be at risk. It’s OK to go to any other part of Africa.
Eastern
Europe
United States
India
West Africa
China UK

12. The U.S. has specialized facilities for patients
Biocontainment
unit: Nebraska MC
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and Nebraska Medical center have treated and successfully released patients with Ebola. These hospitals use biocontainment units to protect hospital staff and other patients. Nina Pham, a nurse who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, was flown from Dallas to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md. She has fully recovered from Ebola.

13. Preventing the spread of Ebola
Airport temperature scans: find people with fevers- the 1st symptom of the disease.
Protective gear for medical staff