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Ebola: signs, symptoms and how to stay safe

What to look out for, how Ebola spreads, and simple steps that protect you, your family and your community.

Checked against WHO guidance on 9 Oct 2026

Signs and symptoms

Symptoms start 2 to 21 days after infection, most often after 8 to 10 days. A person cannot pass Ebola on before symptoms begin.

Early signs

  • Sudden fever
  • Extreme tiredness and weakness
  • Muscle and joint pain
  • Headache
  • Sore throat

As the illness progresses

  • Vomiting and diarrhoea
  • Stomach pain
  • Skin rash
  • Signs that the kidneys and liver are not working well
  • In some people, unexplained bleeding or bruising: from the gums or nose, or blood in vomit or stool

Early Ebola looks like malaria, typhoid or flu. Only a laboratory test can confirm it, so anyone with these symptoms who may have been exposed needs to be checked by a health worker.

How Ebola spreads

Ebola spreads through

  • Direct contact, through broken skin or the eyes, nose or mouth, with the blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola or has died of it: vomit, stool, urine, saliva, sweat, breast milk and semen
  • Objects soiled with those fluids, such as bedding, clothing and needles
  • Washing, touching or preparing the body of someone who died of Ebola
  • Handling or eating infected wild animals (bushmeat), such as fruit bats, monkeys and apes
  • Sexual contact with a survivor, because the virus can stay in semen for months after recovery

Ebola does not spread through

  • The air, like flu or COVID-19
  • Mosquitoes or other insects
  • People who have no symptoms
  • Safe drinking water or properly cooked food

A patient becomes more infectious as they get sicker. The bodies of people who died of Ebola are highly infectious.

How to protect yourself and your family

  1. Wash your hands often

    Use soap and running water, or an alcohol-based hand rub, especially after caring for someone who is sick or visiting a health facility.

  2. Avoid body fluids

    Do not touch the blood, vomit, stool or other body fluids of a sick person, or their bedding and clothing. Do not share cups, plates or towels with them.

  3. Leave burials to trained teams

    Do not touch, wash or prepare the body of someone who died of suspected Ebola. Trained teams carry out safe and dignified burials that respect the family.

  4. Call a health worker to care for the sick

    If someone at home falls ill with possible Ebola, call for help instead of nursing them yourself. If you must touch them, wear gloves and wash your hands afterwards.

  5. Avoid bushmeat

    Do not handle or eat bats, monkeys, apes or animals found dead in the forest. Cook all meat thoroughly.

  6. Protect your partner after recovery

    Male survivors should use a condom every time for at least 12 months after symptoms started, or until their semen tests negative twice.

  7. Health workers: use protective equipment

    Apply infection prevention and control measures with every patient, wear the right protective equipment, and ask feverish patients about travel and contact with sick people.

  8. Travellers: watch your health

    Follow official travel advice. For 21 days after leaving an affected area, check for fever and call a health worker straight away if you feel unwell.

What to do if you feel sick

  1. Stay away from others

    Keep to a separate room if you can, and do not share items with the people you live with.

  2. Call before you go

    Phone your nearest health facility or the Ministry of Health hotline before going in, so they can receive you safely.

  3. Tell them everything

    Say where you have travelled and whether you have been near a sick person or attended a funeral in the past 21 days.

  4. Get medical care early

    Do not rely on home remedies or self-medication. Early care at a health facility greatly improves the chance of survival.

  5. If you were in contact with a patient

    Health workers may follow up with you for 21 days. Check your temperature as advised and tell them at once if you develop a fever.

Treatment and vaccines

There is no single cure for every type of Ebola. Early supportive care, such as fluids by mouth or drip and treatment of specific symptoms, greatly improves survival.

For Zaire ebolavirus there is a licensed vaccine (Ervebo) and two approved antibody treatments (Inmazeb and Ebanga).

For Bundibugyo virus, which is causing the 2026 outbreak, and for Sudan virus, there is not yet a licensed vaccine or specific treatment. Candidate vaccines and medicines may be offered through clinical trials during an outbreak.

Myths and facts

MythEbola spreads through the air.

FactIt spreads through direct contact with the body fluids of a sick person or a body, not through the air.

MythYou can catch Ebola from someone who looks healthy.

FactPeople without symptoms do not spread Ebola. The risk grows as a patient gets sicker.

MythEbola always kills.

FactMany people survive, especially when they get care early.

MythSalt-water baths, herbs or antibiotics cure Ebola.

FactThey do not. Relying on them delays real care and costs lives.

MythSurvivors are dangerous to be around.

FactRecovered patients are not a risk through everyday contact. They need support, not stigma.

MythMosquitoes spread Ebola.

FactInsects do not spread Ebola.

Sources

This page is general information, not medical advice. If you are unwell, contact a health worker.