Prevention

Prevention focuses on avoiding contact with the viruses. The following precautions can help prevent infection and spread of Ebola virus and Marburg virus.

• Avoid areas of known outbreaks. Before traveling to Africa, find out about current epidemics by checking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
• Wash your hands frequently. As with other infectious diseases, one of the most important preventive measures is frequent hand-washing. Use soap and water, or use alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60% alcohol when soap and water aren't available.
• Avoid bush meat. In developing countries, avoid buying or eating the wild animals, including nonhuman primates, sold in local markets.
• Avoid contact with infected people. In particular, caregivers should avoid contact with an infected person's body fluids and tissues, including blood, semen, vaginal secretions and saliva. Also avoid the person's clothing, bedding or other items that may have touched him or her. People with Ebola virus or Marburg virus are most contagious in the later stages of the disease.
• Follow infection-control procedures. If you're a health care worker, wear specialized personal protective equipment that covers you from head to toe. Keep people who have the viruses isolated from others. Safely throw away needles and sterilize other instruments.
• Don't handle remains. The bodies of people who have died of Ebola virus or Marburg virus are still contagious. Specially organized and trained teams should bury the remains, using appropriate safety equipment.

Vaccine approval and research development

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved an Ebola vaccine. It's given as a single dose and has been found to be effective and safe to use.

Another Ebola vaccine has been developed and used in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a research study. It requires two doses, taken 56 days apart.

Scientists continue to work on a variety of vaccines that would protect people from Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Research is ongoing.