Ebola
"Ebola virus em" — Photo by Photo Credit: Dr. Frederick Murphy Content Providers(s): CDC/ Dr. Frederick A. Murphy / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
A river’s namesake that leaves a lasting, crimson mark.
While named after a peaceful waterway, this elusive pathogen remains one of the world's most feared microscopic travelers. It primarily hides in the deep forest canopy, waiting for the perfect moment to jump between hosts.
Did you know?
The virus was named after the Ebola River, not because it originated in the water, but because the first recorded outbreak occurred in a village near its banks in 1976.
An outbreak in DR Congo is being rated as a “very high risk" to public health by the WHO.
I share my name with a quiet river flowing through the Congo Basin.
I prefer to travel in fruit bats, but I leave them completely unharmed.
My presence famously triggered a desperate search for a patient zero in a hollow tree.
Historically, my arrival is often marked by the sudden disappearance of local primates.
I am a viral hemorrhagic fever that prefers the shade of the rainforest to the lights of the city.