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[Microbiology](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/) · [Other viruses and prions](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/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

## Key points

- Filoviruses: negative-sense RNA, enveloped, filamentous; reservoir in fruit bats.
- Spread by contact with blood and body fluids, also from the body after death; not before symptoms.
- Precautions (NCLEX): standard + contact + droplet, single room with its own bathroom and full protective equipment; airborne during aerosol-generating procedures.
- Incubation up to 21 days: the basis of contact follow-up.
- Ebola Zaire has a vaccine and monoclonal antibodies; Marburg does not.

## 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

- Ebola virus disease [Viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola and others) →](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/viral-haemorrhagic-fevers/)
- Marburg virus disease [Viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola and others) →](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/viral-haemorrhagic-fevers/)

## 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:

- [Ansuvimab](https://durgical.com/en/pharmacology/ansuvimab/)

## 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.

## Memory aid

"The bat's thread": the filovirus is a thread that leaves the bat cave and travels hand to hand through blood, so the barrier must be total.

## 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.

[Add to my cards (5)](https://durgical.app/estudiar/?add=/en/microbiology/ebola-and-marburg-viruses/)

## Related

- [Arenaviruses (Lassa and the South American haemorrhagic fevers)](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/arenaviruses/)
- [Dengue virus](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/dengue-virus/)
- [Yellow fever virus](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/yellow-fever-virus/)
- [Hantavirus](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/hantavirus/)

## Related conditions

- [Viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola and others)](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/viral-haemorrhagic-fevers/)

## What the colours mean

**Gram-positive**
Thick peptidoglycan wall: stains purple.

**Gram-negative**
Thin wall with an outer membrane: stains pink.

**Acid-fast**
Lipid-rich wall (mycobacteria): Ziehl–Neelsen stain.

**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.

[← Back to the group: Other viruses and prions](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/other-viruses-and-prions/)

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

Sources: [Ebola disease](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ebola-virus-disease) (WHO, 2025); [Marburg virus disease](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/marburg-virus-disease) (WHO, 2025); [Infection Prevention and Control for Patients in U.S. Hospitals with Suspected or Confirmed Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers](https://www.cdc.gov/viral-hemorrhagic-fevers/hcp/infection-control/index.html) (CDC, 2024).

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Representative model, for educational purposes only.

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Source: https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/ebola-and-marburg-viruses/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: DurgiPedia (durgical.com), https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/ebola-and-marburg-viruses/