Last week I talked about Ebola and my thoughts on it, so this week I've decided to talk more about what it really is as a disease. Ebola is an ancient disease that has been effecting whole continents like Africa for a very long time, but has just now started to affect the United States. Ebola is caused by the ebolavirus and affects humans and other primates. Symptoms usually start between two days and three weeks of contracting the virus. Symptoms start out as, sour throat, fever, head aches, and muscle pain, but quickly change into diarrhea, rash, and vomiting which is usually followed by liver and kidney failure. It is not uncommon for people with Ebola to begin to bleed internally and externally. The host of this disease usually dies due to low blood pressure from fluid loss within 16 days of developing symptoms. The chance of a person surviving Ebola is between 25% and 90% depending on where you live. In all, I can not imagine how awful it must be to have Ebola. I have seen videos of people that can barely walk because they are so sick with Ebola. Luckily I live in Vermont so there is a small chance that I will catch Ebola however that chance does increase every time a doctor flies back from Africa carrying the disease.