The lowdown on a disease that leaves horror in its wake
0 Number of registered medicines or vaccines for Ebola. There are, however, several experimental medicines under development.
0 Number of cases of Ebola in South Africa to date. According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, “we have no Ebola in the country”. Its public health, surveillance and response head, Lucille Blumberg, has said: “The chances of an outbreak [in South Africa] are very slim.”
1 Level to which the US Centre for Disease Control has moved in Liberia, in response to the Ebola outbreak. Level 1 is its highest state of alert.
2 Number of deaths from Ebola in Nigeria. Because Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, concerns are that it will be incredibly difficult to contain.
4 The risk group the Ebola pathogen is categorised as by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It requires a level four biosafety level response, the highest level. At this level, staff must wear a positive pressure suit with its own air supply; the entrance and exit of labs must contain showers, a vacuum room and airlocks; and all air and water coming into and out of the lab must undergo decontamination. 5 Number of species of Ebola that exist: Bundibugyo ebola virus (BDBV); Zaire ebola virus (EBOV); Sudan ebola virus (SUDV); Reston ebola virus (RESTV) and Taï Forest ebola virus (TAFV). Of these, the three types to have manifested in Africa are BDBV, EBOV and SUDV. The two remaining species — RESTV and TAFV — do not result in illness and death in humans and have only ever manifested in the Philippines and China.
7 Number of weeks after recovery that men can still transmit Ebola through their semen. Recovery rates are extremely low.
9 Average number of days it takes from infection to symptoms manifesting, otherwise known as the incubation period. The full range is about two to 21 days. According to the WHO, symptoms include the onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver functions and, in some cases, internal and external bleeding.
15 Number of health ministers in the Southern African Development Community who met on August 7 and agreed on measures to combat the spread of the disease. South Africa was identified to become the “centre of excellence in Ebola laboratory diagnosis” for the region.
25 Number of outbreaks of Ebola since 1976, according to the WHO. Before the current outbreak, the worst was in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when 280 people died.
43 Number of plant and vertebrate species experimentally inoculated with EBOV. Of them all, only bats became infected. Fruit bats are believed to be the primary carrier of the disease.
90 Percentage chance that infection with Ebola will result in death. At 90%, EBOV has the highest case-fatality rate of all Ebola species. About 55% of those infected with the current strand have died.
90 Number of days that a state of emergency in Liberia will last, called by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
97 Percentage of similarity between the current strand of Ebola in West Africa and the species Zaire ebola virus (EBOV).
1976 Year that EBOV was first described. Two simultaneous outbreaks occurred. One was in the village of Yambukud near the Ebola River — a tributary of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The disease was named after the river.
2015 Year by which the experimental vaccine ZMapp will start to be effective, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.