Ebola causes viral hemorrhagic fever and kills up to 90 % of people who catch it . MSF says that while the virus is believed to be able to survive for some days in liquid outside an infected organism , chlorine disinfection , heat , direct sunlight , soaps and detergents can kill it . It 's named after the Ebola River in DRC , where one of first outbreaks occurred in 1976 . Symptoms can take between two and 21 days to appear after victim contracts virus . The disease is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood or vomit from infected person ; indirect transmission by touching objects contaminated with body fluid ( e.g. a needle ) ; and sexual contact.
Ebola causes viral hemorrhagic fever and kills up to 90 % of people who catch it . It 's named after the Ebola River in DRC , where one of first outbreaks occurred in 1976 . Symptoms can take between two and 21 days to appear after victim contracts virus . The disease is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood or vomit from infected person ; indirect transmission by touching objects contaminated with body fluid ( e.g. a needle ) ; and sexual contact.