Facts about Ebola

Posted by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 10/19/2014

At a time when Ebola is all over the news, we want to make sure you have the clear-cut facts about Ebola. Please get informed and share this information with your friends and family to make sure they know the facts about Ebola.
1. Ebola is NOT spread through casual contact, air, water, or food grown or legally purchased in the United States.
2. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of someone who is already showing symptoms of the disease.
3. The symptoms of Ebola include: fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite and abnormal bleeding. Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure to Ebola virus, though 8-10 days is most common.
4. If a person does not have symptoms, they are not contagious.
In order for the virus to be transmitted, an individual would have to have direct contact with an individual who is experiencing symptoms or has died of the disease. The Department of Health & Human Services knows how to stop Ebola and efforts across the department and through the administration will continue.
For the latest updates, please follow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Twitter and Facebook.