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Microbiology · Other viruses and prions

Ebola and Marburg viruses (filoviruses) !

  • Virus
  • Enveloped
  • Contact
  • Droplet
  • Airborne
  • Exam priority: medium

Thread-shaped viruses that cause severe haemorrhagic fevers; they jump from bats to humans and then spread through a patient's blood and body fluids.

Updated 2026-11-01

Also called: Ebola, Marburg haemorrhagic fever

At a glance

Shape
Filamentous, sometimes shaped like a 6 or a shepherd's crook
Genome
Single-stranded, negative-sense, non-segmented RNA
Envelope
Enveloped
Family
Filoviridae (genera Orthoebolavirus and Orthomarburgvirus)
Size
About 80 nm wide and up to several micrometres long

Morphology

  • Long, filamentous particle with a helical nucleocapsid
  • Envelope with a single glycoprotein (GP) that mediates entry
  • Ebola includes several species; large epidemics are caused by Ebola, Sudan and Bundibugyo viruses

Transmission

  • Animal to human: contact with blood, secretions or organs of infected fruit bats or primates
  • Person to person: direct contact with blood or body fluids of a patient or a body, and with contaminated objects
  • Health workers are infected when infection control fails
  • Not contagious before symptoms appear

Reservoir: Fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae; for Marburg, Rousettus aegyptiacus in caves and mines

Isolation precautions

What the care team adds to standard precautions.

Contact
Gown and gloves; dedicated equipment. For C. difficile, soap-and-water hand washing.
Droplet
Surgical mask within about a metre; single room.
Airborne
N95 respirator and a negative-pressure room.

Virulence factors

  • Infects macrophages and dendritic cells first and blunts the interferon response
  • Cytokine storm, endothelial damage and coagulopathy
  • Liver and adrenal necrosis; multi-organ failure

Diseases it causes

Clinical picture

  • Incubation of 2 to 21 days
  • Sudden onset of fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat
  • Then vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, rash and kidney and liver injury
  • Bleeding is less common and late; average case fatality is around 50%

Diagnosis

  • RT-PCR on blood (the main test)
  • Antigen tests and antibody ELISA
  • Samples are an extreme biohazard: handled in maximum-containment laboratories
  • Rule out malaria and typhoid, which look alike early on

Treatment

Early intensive supportive care (rehydration, symptom management). For Ebola virus (Zaire species) WHO recommends monoclonal antibodies (ansuvimab, REGN-EB3). There is no approved treatment for Sudan, Bundibugyo or Marburg disease.

Drug class only; doses and regimens are set by the clinician from the current guideline.

In Pharmacology:

Prevention

  • Vaccine against Ebola virus (Zaire) for contacts and health workers during outbreaks; none for Marburg
  • Strict isolation, full protective equipment and a log of everyone who enters the room
  • Safe burials and contact follow-up for 21 days
  • Avoid caves and mines with bat colonies in endemic areas

Vaccine: Approved vaccines exist against Ebola virus (Zaire species) and are used in outbreaks; they are not part of Colombia's PAI schedule.

Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

What is the natural reservoir of filoviruses?

Fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae; for Marburg, the cave bat Rousettus aegyptiacus.

Which isolation precautions apply to a patient with suspected Ebola?

Standard, contact and droplet precautions in a single room with full protective equipment, plus airborne precautions during aerosol-generating procedures.

Why does Ebola contact follow-up last 21 days?

Because the incubation period runs from 2 to 21 days.

Is a person infected with Ebola contagious before symptoms?

No; they are contagious once symptomatic, and the body remains contagious after death.

Which test confirms Ebola virus disease?

RT-PCR on blood.

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Educational content on microorganisms; not a treatment guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.

Sources: Ebola disease (WHO, 2025); Marburg virus disease (WHO, 2025); Infection Prevention and Control for Patients in U.S. Hospitals with Suspected or Confirmed Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (CDC, 2024).

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Representative model, for educational purposes only.