It was good treatment of virology for the movie Outbreak. However it misses a real biological blunder in the movie. An often fatal disease, viral hemorraghic fever is characterized in its early stages by fever, chills and headaches. If the disease progresses, it can lead to respiratory problems, severe bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract and internal organs, failure of the blood to clot, kidney and liver problems, and shock. Causes While scientists know that the Ebola virus causes viral hemorraghic fever, they don't as yet know what causes the Ebola virus.
Scientists do have a few clues, however.
Among chimpanzees, Ebola epidemics seem to occur every two years, at the end of the rainy season. Tests on local rodents are being performed, but there is a vast number of different species that could be the cause, and funding for the project is scarce, so it may be some time before the answer is known. If rodents were the cause, the rodent cycle and the Ebola cycle would be the same. If normal precautions are taken, it is relatively difficult to contract Ebola. Even if someone has contracted the disease, if no external symptoms are present, the risk of transmission is nonexistant.