Key Facts (issued August 2012 via the WHO):

• The Ebola virus causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) outbreaks in humans.

• Viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.

• Ebola haemorrhagic fever outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

• The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

• Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus.

• There is no treatment or vaccine available for either people or animals. T