Quantcast

Ebola: What you should know

Ebola: What you should know
Photo by Stefano Giovannini

New York has its first confirmed case of Ebola and there is a lot of fear and misinformation swirling around out there. Here, according to the health officials who convened at Borough Hall on Wednesday, is what you need to know to stay safe.

How it spreads

Direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected individual

How it doesn’t spread

Through air, water, or food

Symptoms include

Fever of more than 101.5 degrees, diarrhea, muscle pain, severe headache, stomach pain, unexplained bleeding or bruising, vomiting, and weakness.

When symptoms begin

2–21 days after exposure

Contagiousness starts

When symptoms appear. Ebola gets more contagious as symptoms worsen

What you can do

Get a flu shot. Health officials want to keep people exhibiting flu-like — as in, Ebola-like — symptoms from clogging up emergency rooms and making it harder to single out actual Ebola patients

If you have traveled to Sierra Leone, Liberia, or Guinea in the last 21 days and have a fever

Call 911 or go to an emergency room.

Reach reporter Matthew Perlman at (718) 260–8310. E-mail him at mperl‌man@c‌ngloc‌al.com. Follow him on Twitter @matthewjperlman.