There is no vaccine to prevent Ebola. People can avoid catching the disease by not traveling to areas where the virus is found.
Health care workers can prevent infection by wearing masks, gloves, and goggles whenever they come into contact with people who may have Ebola.
What Causes an Ebola outbreak?
Usually an outbreak starts when someone comes into contact with the body fluids or waste of infected animals, such as monkeys, chimps, or fruit bats. Once a person is infected, he or she can then spread it to others.
There are five different types of Ebola virus that cause the disease. Four of them are known to cause the disease in humans.
The Ebola virus first appeared during two 1976 outbreaks in Africa.
Ebola gets its name from the Ebola River, which is near one of the villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the disease first appeared.