Thuppahi's Blog

Courtesy of Arunachalam Sathananthan

  A Liberian health department burial team removes a suspected Ebola victim’s body in Monrovia — Getty

Ebola is thought to have originated in fruit bats and to have been introduced into the human population through close contact with the bodily fluids of the bats themselves or other known carriers such as chimpanzees, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines that form part of the diet in many poor African regions.

Human-to-human transmission occurs by direct contact through broken skin or mucous membranes with the blood or other bodily fluids of infected people, or by contact with surfaces and materials such as bedding or clothing contaminated with these fluids.

People remain infectious as long as their blood and body fluids contain the virus. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to seven weeks after recovery. Continue reading →