Outbreak: the facts

Current status: IT is thought that 1 702 people might have contracted Ebola — most of them (691) in Sierra Leone. Altogether 931 people have died, of whom 363 were in Guinea, where the outbreak is thought to have begun.

Symptoms: Early symptoms include fever, a general feeling of illness and discomfort and intense muscle pain. These are soon followed by diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Some develop internal and external bleeding. Symptoms can appear from two to 21 days after exposure, though it is mostly from eight to 10 days. Some people recover and some do not. In the latest outbreak, the fatality rate is more than 55%. This particular strain, Zaire Ebola, usually has a 90% fatality rate.

Transmission: The latest thinking is that Ebola was introduced to the human population through close contact with infected animals, mainly chimpanzees, gorillas, bats, monkeys and forest antelope. Human-tohuman transmission is a common feature of the virus. The disease usually spreads from person to person through contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluid.

First case: This is the first recorded outbreak of the Ebola virus in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. It is believed the first case with this outbreak was of a two-year-old who died on December 6 in the Guéchédou prefecture of northern Guinea. An infected healthcare worker is thought to have spread the disease to other parts of the country. The first case in Liberia was believed to have been caused when a woman from Guinea travelled to Liberia and infected her sister.

SA hospitals readied: ý Polokwane, Limpopo ý Tygerberg, Western Cape ý Kimberley, Northern Cape ý Klerksdorp, North West ý Addington, KwaZuluNatal

Rob Ferreira, Mpumalanga

Charlotte Maxeke and Steve Biko, Gauteng

Frere and Livingstone, Eastern Cape — Source: SA National Institute for Communicable Diseases, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and department of health