Ebola Outbreak 2014 Latest News: What are the Symptoms of Ebola?

REUTERS/Jim Young

A worker in a hazardous material suit is helped to undress after coming out of the apartment unit where Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola virus fatality in the U.S.,was staying in Dallas, Texas, on Oct. 5, 2014.

1. EBOLA DEATH IN U.S. -- The only confirmed Ebola death in the United States is that of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. He died on Wednesday at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sept. 28. He was diagnosed with the deadly virus two days earlier.
At least three other Americans were treated for Ebola – Kent Brantly, Nancy Writebol and Richard Sacra. They were evacuated from Liberia to American hospitals with specialized biocontainment units. All three survived.

2. WHAT HAPPENED TO DUNCAN â€“ Duncan, the first U.S. Ebola fatality, got the disease just before leaving Liberia in mid-September when he helped bring a 19-year-old woman to hospital after her family was unable to get an ambulance. The young woman -- who was later diagnosed with Ebola and was seven months pregnant -- was turned away at the hospital because of lack of space in the Ebola ward. She returned home that evening and died a few hours later. Before he left Liberia, Duncan signed a form at the airport saying he had not had contact with any person infected by the virus. Officials in Liberia said Duncan showed no Ebola symptoms when he boarded the plane bound for the U.S.

Duncan's condition was complicated by a two-day delay in treatment after a Dallas hospital initially sent him home without realizing he was infected with Ebola.

Authorities said Duncan received the experimental drug brincidofovir, made by Chimerix Inc, which has not been tested on humans or animals. Ebola experts asked why he was given this unproven drug instead of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals' TKM-Ebola, which has been tested on humans. TKM-Ebola was given to another U.S. patient, Dr. Rick Sancra, who also contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, and was cured.

3. SCREENING OF PEOPLE AT U.S. AIRPORTS â€“ With Duncan's death, U.S. authorities have decided to screen all travelers from West Africa arriving in five U.S. airports, which are the destination of 94 percent of passengers from West Africa. The passengers will have their temperature taken and face questions on their health in an effort to prevent the spread of deadly disease. The screening by Customs and Border Protection will begin on Saturday at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and next week at New Jersey's Newark, Washington's Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.

4. EBOLA SYMPTOMS â€“ According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the symptoms of Ebola include: fever (greater than 38.6°C or 101.5°F), severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal (stomach) pain. Symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 21 days after exposure to the virus but the average is eight to 10 days.

The Mayo Clinic says other symptoms include chills, red eyes, raised rash, chest pain and cough, severe weight loss, bleeding from the eyes, internal bleeding, and bleeding from the ears, nose and rectum.

The Clinic says that Ebola creates complications like: multiple organ failure, severe bleeding, jaundice, delirium, seizures, coma, shock.

It says that people who survive Ebola have to deal with: hair loss, sensory changes, liver inflammation, weakness, fatigue, headaches, eye inflammation, testicular inflammation.

The Clinic says recovery from Ebola depends on good supportive clinical care and the patient's immune response. People who recover from Ebola infection develop antibodies that last for at least 10 years, it adds.

5. HOW DISEASE IS CONTRACTED -- The CDC says that Ebola is spread only by direct contact with bodily fluids, like blood, saliva, semen and sweat, of people who are showing symptoms of infection. It is transferred when a person comes into contact with those bodily fluids and then touches their own eyes, mouth, nostrils, ears, genitals, or open wound.

The Mayo Clinic says the Ebola virus is not known to be spread by insects—like mosquito bites.

The World Health Organization underscores the importance of frequent hand washing—with soap and water—as good practice to avoid spreading Ebola, and any virus. The WHO notes that Ebola kills far fewer people than HIV/AIDS, diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis, diabetes, immune disorders.

6. HOW EBOLA ATTACKS HUMAN BODY -- Ebola can only be spread through the bodily fluids of people showing signs of the disease, according to Amesh Adalja, infectious disease specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Unlike tuberculosis, which primarily attacks the lung, Ebola affects many organs of the body at once, he says. Massive diarrhea and vomiting can cause dehydration and disrupt the normal balance of electrolytes, such as potassium, causing heart rhythm problems. The virus can cause bleeding by making tiny holes in blood vessels and harming the platelets, a type of blood cell that normally helps the blood to clot. Ebola can cause kidney and liver failure, and prompt the immune system to overreact, further stressing the body. Many patients with Ebola die of septic shock, or a bloodstream infection, Adalja says.

7. NO EBOLA VACCINE â€“ To date, there is no vaccine that can prevent Ebola. There are also no proven therapies. However, there are at least two anti-Ebola drugs currently being tested.

8. SPREAD OF EBOLA OUTBREAK UNLIKELY IN U.S. â€“ According to Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, a widespread outbreak is highly unlikely to happen in the U.S. The CDC assures the public that it has the capacity to stem any potential spread by isolating people suspecting of harboring the Ebola virus, contacting people exposed to a sick person and further isolating contacts if they develop symptoms.

9. WHAT U.S. IS DOING IN WEST AFRICA â€“ American aid workers are providing medical care, protective gear and education to the people of West Africa to help contain the spreading virus. About 350 U.S. troops are now in West Africa and about 4,000 more are on the way to support local health efforts. The troops are there to help build new facilities, provide logistics support and train locals in prevention methods.