the body (hypovolemia). This consequently causes critical organ failure due to interruption of tissue oxygenation. At the usually irreversible stage of critical shock, the chances of living are almost nil. Ebola epidemics arise because the virus is highly contagious. Transmission is most common through close personal contact with one that has contracted the illness. This is because the virus is carried in the victim’s bodily fluids, including blood, secretions and even semen. This means that transmission is also possible through sexual contact. The first outbreaks in Zaire and Sudan arose mainly due to the fact that hypodermic needles used to treat infected patients were reused and not sterilized in the hospitals. (The reuse of needles and syringes there is a common practice because the underfinanced medical system.) Transmission is also possible by dealing with infected primates, as demonstrated in the case of the Swiss zoologist who contracted the Ebola-Tai virus after performing an autopsy on an infected chimpanzee in 1994. Transmission to another person can occur even before the patient himself has yet to show Ebola symptoms. If a patient does recover, her or his chances of spreading the virus is greatly reduced, but there are still possible chances of transmission through sexual contact, as the virus may still be present in genital secretions up to a period of seven weeks after recovery. The chances of transmission are therefore zero only after the patient has completely recovered and there are no traces of the virus whatsoever in the patient. However, if a patient dies, the body remains infectious, and therefore must be handled with extreme caution. Ebola cannot recur in a survivor; a fully recovered survivor has no traces of the virus in his or her system. The only way a survivor will catch the illness again is by re-infection. Thankfully, the Ebola virus is not an airborne disease. Ebola- Reston is the only strain that co...
