Ebola virus
| Ebola virus (EBOV) | |
|---|---|
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| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group V ((−)ssRNA) |
| Order: | Mononegavirales |
| Family: | Filoviridae |
| Genus: | Ebolavirus |
| Species: | Zaire ebolavirus |
Ebola virus (/ɛˈboʊlə/;EBOV, formerly designated Zaire ebolavirus) is one of five known viruses within the genus Ebolavirus. Four of the five known ebolaviruses, including EBOV, cause a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and other mammals, known as Ebola virus disease (EVD). Ebola virus has caused the majority of human deaths from EVD, and is the cause of the 2013–2015 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, which has resulted in at least 28,616 suspected cases and 11,310 confirmed deaths.
Ebola virus and its genus were both originally named for Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), the country where it was first described, and was at first suspected to be a new "strain" of the closely related Marburg virus. The virus was renamed "Ebola virus" in 2010 to avoid confusion. Ebola virus is the single member of the species Zaire ebolavirus, which is the type species for the genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales. The natural reservoir of Ebola virus is believed to be bats, particularly fruit bats, and it is primarily transmitted between humans and from animals to humans through body fluids.
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