We recently experienced the
largest Ebola outbreak in history
. Until 2014, the worst outbreak on record had killed about 430 people. During the most recent crisis –which lasted from 2014 to 2016 –
It’s a virus that
(think: fever, headache), but can get scarier later on (think: internal and external bleeding, hemorrhaging).
, there was no vaccine
and there’s still no specific cure. Without access to the right health care, the mortality rate can be
By coming into contact with the
of an infected person or animal. Health officials say Ebola is only contagious when someone is showing symptoms. That’s why health workers who treat Ebola patients wear head-to-toe protective gear. The virus can be in a person’s body for up to 21 days
The first known case was in
. The virus gets its name from the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo...for no reason other than the researchers saw it on a map and thought it sounded like a good name for a disease. Scientists think Ebola comes from
, and people get the virus by coming into contact with things that have the bats’ bodily fluids on them. The 2014 outbreak is believed to have started at the end of 2013 when
got Ebola from an infected animal. Then, the virus spread
mostly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
. In those countries, health workers dealt with very limited resources, but also a stigma. The disease is seen as so
A man named
flew from West Africa to the US in September 2014. Just a
, Duncan was in Liberia and helped transport a pregnant woman with Ebola to the hospital for treatment. He started showing symptoms after arriving in the US, was treated in isolation in a Dallas hospital, and passed away. Two health care workers who treated him also contracted the virus, raising lots of questions over whether the US was prepared to handle treatment. The US dealt with a total of
For now. The World Health Organization
to the international Ebola emergency in 2016. They also said that we can expect occasional flare-ups from time to time. The international community is hoping that
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