The victims of Ebola die of blood loss and shock. There is no known cure or vaccine for the Ebola virus. The current treatment for Ebola infection is preventing shock and providing supportive care. The time from exposure to the onset of illness is about five to ten days. The time from onset of illness until death or improvement is about seven to ten days.
Recovery takes five weeks or more.
It is marked by weight loss and amnesia in the early stages of recovery. Isolating the infected person or animal can help prevent the spread of disease. A method is used to duplicate genetic material for study called the polymerase chain reaction is used to detect Ebola viral material in the patient's blood or tissues. A big problem in diagnosis is that the outbreak of the virus often occurs in remote areas of developing countries. Access to laboratories for specimen analysis is very limited in these areas.