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title: Ebola: 8 Terms You Need to Know
description: Now that the U.S. has its first diagnosed case of Ebola, here are the terms you should know when it comes to understanding who's at risk.
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article:section: Health
og:title: 8 Ebola Terms You Need to Know
og:description: Now that the U.S. has its first diagnosed case of Ebola, here are the terms you should know when it comes to understanding who's at risk.
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# 8 Ebola Terms You Need to Know

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## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ

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#### What newsletters does TIME publish?

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9QwqrSi9.m3u8" -->
## Video: 5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About

[Watch (HLS stream): 5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9QwqrSi9.m3u8) (2:02)

![5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9QwqrSi9/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2014-08-07. TIME Health Reporter Alexandra Sifferlin explains why there's no cure for Ebola, how infected patients are treated, and more common questions about the disease._


by 

[TIME Health](https://time.com/author/time-health/)


## TIME Health


Oct 3, 2014 5:17 PM UTC

by 

[TIME Health](https://time.com/author/time-health/)


## TIME Health


Oct 3, 2014 5:17 PM UTC

**Incubation period**: The time between exposure to a virus and when symptoms start to present, which is two to 21 days in Ebola’s case.

**Symptomatic**: A patient becomes symptomatic when they present symptoms of Ebola, which include fever, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea.

**Contagious**: People with strains of the Ebola virus in their blood are only contagious when they are presenting with symptoms (see above). The virus cannot be transmitted before a person is symptomatic, which means that people on the same airplane as Thomas Eric Duncan could not have caught the virus from him.

**R0**: Also called R-nought, it refers to the “estimated reproduction number for infectious diseases.” Put more simply, it’s a formula predicting how contagious a virus is. NPR has a [handy graphic](http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/02/352983774/no-seriously-how-contagious-is-ebola) on their site showing that Ebola has an R0 of 2, meaning the likely number of people infected by one patient. Measles, by comparison, has an R0 of 18\. It is relatively difficult, [as we have shown](http://time.com/3451076/ebola-in-the-united-states-what-you-need-to-know/), to spread Ebola.

**Contact tracing**: This involves the laborious process of tracking down anyone whom a patient may have exposed to Ebola. It requires trained public health officials who ask a series of questions about where the patient has been, and how many people he might have interacted with, either face to face or in a room or other contained setting. In West Africa, this is being done by local volunteers who are trained by public health experts.


**Direct contact**: This includes the people most closely connected to a patient—family members and friends. These people are most likely to have come into contact with a patient’s body fluids, and therefore represented the group most likely exposed to the virus, and at highest risk of developing the disease.

**Indirect contact**: This group includes those who may have had contact with a patient but in a less direct way—in a workplace or school, for example. These also include contacts of the direct contacts, who are at lower risk of having been exposed to the patient’s body fluids and so are at lower risk of having Ebola.

**Quarantine**: A legal order for a potentially infected person not to leave a space or have contact with the rest of the population. The Ebola’s patient’s [four family members are in quarantine](http://time.com/3456050/ebola-texas/), with a law enforcement official stationed outside their home.


## Transcript

The Ebola virus is ravaging West Africa, taking at least 800 lives and leaving behind a lot of confusion. Here are five common questions about the disease. Number one, if there's no vaccine and cure for Ebola ,. What are doctors doing to treat infected patients? Currently, doctors can only provide supportive care like monitoring their heart rate, and blood pressure, and making sure their fluids are replenished. This will hopefully help sustain infected patients through the disease. If there's no cure for Ebola, how are some people surviving? When someone is infected with the virus, the body produces antibodies to fight it.

People who have survived Ebola have produced enough antibodies to neutralize the virus and eventually, their immune system will clear it. Number three, why is there no vaccine or drug for Ebola? There are currently experimental drugs and vaccines under development. But since Ebola is a relatively rare disease compared to others, there hasn't been a financial incentive for pharmaceutical companies to put a lot of funding into these drugs. Number four. How can Americans with Ebola be evacuated back to the U. S .? There are certain plains that medical groups use to evacuate and transport people with very infectious diseases.

The plains can be equipped with medical equipment, as well as units to isolate patients from doctors. Doctors accompanying patients will wear full body suits to keep themselves protected. Number 5, what are my chances of getting Ebola in the U. S .? [ MUSIC ] The only way to contract the disease is through direct contact with bodily fluids, which can include blood, vomit, semen, and yes, even sweat. With proper protection and equipment, being infected with the disease is highly unlikely. For more answers to your questions about Ebola and to follow Time's coverage of the disease, visit time. com / ebola.

[ MUSIC ]

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