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Everything you need to know about Ebola

The death of the first Ebola patient on American soil has raised countless alarms and has millions of people wondering what they need to know about the virus in order to stay safe.

Here are several questions that have been answered to give the public an inside look at this deadly disease.

What is Ebola?

Ebola Virus Disease — formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever — is a relentless illness which typically kills the human who carries it when immediate treatment is not received, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus will incubate inside a person after symptoms are shown for 2 to 21 days, the WHO reports.

There are five different strains of Ebola, but the one currently ravaging thousands of people is the Zaire strain.

This is the most dangerous and severe of the group and despite a staggering fatality rate in the past of around 90 percent, the current outbreak has seen much lower results — around 60 percent.

Humans are not contagious until they display symptoms of the disease.

Ebola first appeared in 1976 during two outbreaks in Nzara, Sudan and Yambuku — now the Democratic Republic of Congo and formerly Zaire.

The virus was named after the Ebola River, which was located near where the Congolese outbreak had taken place.

What are the symptoms of the virus?

Symptoms include fever, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. The next set of telltale signs of Ebola is vomiting, diarrhea, rash, failure of kidney and liver function, and sometimes both internal and external bleeding.

How does Ebola kill you?

Residents react as volunteers take away the body of a woman who died of Ebola in Waterloo, Sierra Leone.Getty Images

The disease kills humans by overpowering their immune systems after the worm-like virus attaches to the surface of a person’s cells, according to chief WebMD medical editor Dr. Michael Smith, who speaks in detail about the disease in a video on the website.

Ebola will travel through its host using the same cells meant to combat infections, and it begins to launch multiple attacks on every organ and muscle tissue in the body.

As each cell is destroyed, an infectious particle explosion takes place which blasts off a powerful inflammatory reaction.

“That’s what causes the sudden flu-like symptoms that are the first signs of Ebola,” Smith said. “Inside the blood vessels, the virus causes abnormal clotting and bleeding at the same time.”

“Bleeding into the skin causes a red rash that appears all over,” he added. “With the ability to clot normally destroyed, bleeding occurs internally as well as from the eyes, ears, and nose.”

Organ failure begins to set in, which — along with the profuse blood loss — is the ultimate cause of death.

How does Ebola spread?

Wild animals, which are often mammals, are the direct transmitters of the virus to people in Africa. Ebola will then spread through populations by way of human-to-human contact, according to the WHO.

People who contract Ebola get the disease via direct contact with an infected person’s blood, other bodily fluids or organs.

What can people do to protect themselves?

Soldiers from the 36th Engineer Brigade practice how to put on protective clothing and gloves in Fort Hood, Texas. The brigade is set to deploy to Liberia, where they will be building temporary medical facilities.AP

There are three major things that people need to do in order to protect themselves, the WHO reports.

First, they should avoid or reduce any and all contact with the infected — including animals. This can be done through protective clothing such as gloves and head-to-toe gowns.

Next, people should make sure they thoroughly wash up and keep themselves clean at all times. Lastly, people involved in the burial of an infected person’s dead body should properly dispose of it by means of cremation.

Aid workers in Africa have been decked out entirely in protective Ebola suits while treating infected patients. They include medical masks, surgical caps, respirators, goggles, aprons, overalls, scrubs, double gloves and boots.

It is vital that people realize the virus has not been officially confirmed to be transmitted by air, so someone can’t get Ebola from a sneeze or a cough.

In order to contract the disease, direct contact with bodily fluids remains the only way someone can fall ill, according to the WHO.

Where did this recent outbreak originate?

A charity worker from the GOAL Ireland humanitarian agency educates children on how to prevent and identify Ebola in their communities in Freetown.AP

The current Ebola epidemic sweeping across West Africa and making its way into two other countries first began in Guinea in December 2013.

The virus then quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria then discovered its first locally transmitted cases in Port Harcourt soon after.

How many people have been infected and died so far?

There are now more than 8,000 cases of people infected with the Ebola virus since the outbreak began, according to the WHO. Around half of that number have died.

Liberia has been hit the hardest by the virus — recording 2,210 deaths and 3,924 cases. Next is Sierra Leone, which has had 879 deaths and 2,789 cases, followed by Guinea with 768 deaths and 1,298 cases; Nigeria with 8 deaths and 20 cases; the United States with 1 death and 1 case, and Senegal with zero deaths and 1 case.

Since there is no licensed vaccine to treat Ebola, what is the cure/treatment that infected patients have been receiving?

Health officials have used a range of potential treatments on people including immune and drug therapies, blood donations and supportive care/rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids, the WHO reports.

It was announced Thursday that trials for an Ebola vaccine developed at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have begun in Africa, but it will take months before any is available, according to NBC.

There will only be small amounts given out, which will probably be used specifically for health workers.

Needless to say, it’s a big step in the right direction of stopping the spread of Ebola.