Ebola virus

noun

: any of several filoviruses (genus Ebolavirus and especially species Zaire ebolavirus) of African origin that cause an often fatal hemorrhagic fever

Examples of Ebola virus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Hassan Kamara, a Freetown resident, lost nine relatives to the Ebola virus during the 2014 outbreak. —Jason Fields, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024

Lassa fever has similar symptoms to the Ebola virus, causing hemorrhagic fever. —Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY, 29 Oct. 2024

These citizen scientists have contributed to research on a wide range of medical challenges including cancer, Alzheimer's disease and the Ebola virus. —Christine Clarridge, Axios, 9 Oct. 2024

In the 2013-2016 outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, cases in healthcare workers occurred in higher proportions compared to the rest of the population. —Mark Kortepeter, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

from the Ebola River in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire)

Note: According to Peter Piot, a Belgian member of an international commission formed to investigate the first outbreak of the virus in 1976, the name was chosen by members of the commission (including the French physician Pierre Sureau and the Americans Karl Johnson and Joel Breman) from a map of Zaire at the Fonds Médical Tropical, a non-governmental organization in Kinshasa where the members were lodged. Though the Ebola River (a headwater stream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo) turned out to be a considerable distance from the village of Yambuku where the fever was first observed, the name was nonetheless retained. The name "Yambuku virus" was avoided because of the stigma it would have attached to the village. (See Peter Piot, No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 56-57.)

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

Ebola virus

noun

: any of several single-stranded RNA viruses of the family Filoviridae (especially species Zaire Ebola virus) of African origin that cause an often fatal hemorrhagic fever