CDC Issues Ebola FAQs

In the wake of the first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States, the CDC has issued a new document titled "What You Need to Know about Ebola."

Facts about the disease that are listed in this document include:

• A person infected with Ebola can't spread the disease until symptoms appear, which is typically 8 to 10 days after exposure. Symptoms include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising. 
• Ebola is spread through direct contact with blood and other body fluids, including urine, feces, saliva, vomit, sweat and semen as well as through objects that have been contaminated with these body fluids. It is not spread through the air, water or food. 
• While there is no FDA-approved vaccine for Ebola, the CDC recommends individuals protect themselves through regular hand hygiene, by avoiding the body fluids of people who are sick, refraining from handling items that may have come into contact with a sick person's blood or body fluids and not touching the body of someone who has died of Ebola. 
• If you have traveled to an area where Ebola outbreaks are happening, you might be at risk of developing the disease if you had direct contact with blood or body fluids of someone who has the disease, touched bats or nonhuman primates (or their blood, fluids or raw meat), went into hospitals where Ebola was being treated or touched the body of a person who died of Ebola. 
• If you traveled to an area where Ebola outbreaks are occurring, you should check for signs and symptoms for 21 days. You should also call your doctor to have your risk level evaluated. 
• If you get sick after coming back from an area with an Ebola outbreak, get medical care right away. The CDC recommends calling ahead to the hospital so that they can adequately prepare for treating you. 

To view and download the FAQs, which are presented in a convenient PDF, click here.