Ebola is not the only viral haemorrhagic fever which claims lives in Africa, and beyond.

Marburg fever gets its name from the town in Germany in which it broke out in 1967 and shares its symptoms with Ebola.

It claimed seven lives from the 25 infected in Marburg and Frankfurt.

The disease was transmitted from African green monkeys brought to Germany for animal experimentation.

Other well-known haemorrhagic fevers are:


Lassa fever - first noticed in the 1960s after an outbreak in Nigeria, and is spread from rodents, the natural host
Rift Valley fever - mainly found in sub-Saharan Africa, and spread by mosquitoes
Congo-Crimean haemorrhagic fever - found in many parts of Africa, the Middle East and even warmer parts of the former Soviet Union, in which an outbreak is ongoing. It is spread by ticks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/413496.stm

ebola and marbug are filoviruses, there are three different types of ebola, only one of which does not affect humans. there is hope for a cure for the ebolas though.

1. 1. Ebola cure hopecopy
2. 2. filoviruses informationcopy