Ebola disease: Prevention and risks

On this page

• How Ebola disease spreads
• How to prevent Ebola disease
• Risk of exposure to Ebola disease
• Health professionals and humanitarian aid workers

How Ebola disease spreads

Person to person

• Unprotected contact with the blood, body fluids or tissues of an infected person with Ebola disease symptoms. Infected individuals have not been shown to transmit the disease before they develop symptoms. Bodies of people who have died from Ebola disease are also considered contagious.
• Unprotected sexual contact with a person who is recovering from Ebola disease for 12 months or more following infection with an ebolavirus.
• In health care settings, staff caring for a person infected with the virus would be at risk if they:
  • aren’t using appropriate infection prevention and control measures
  • aren’t consistently and correctly using proper personal protective equipment

Contact with contaminated objects

• Unprotected contact with soiled surfaces, materials (such as bedding) or medical equipment (such as needles) contaminated with an ebolavirus.

Animals to humans

• Close contact, such as handling or eating, with infected animals (alive or dead) or their body fluids, including:
  • gorillas
  • monkeys
  • chimpanzees
  • fruit bats
  • porcupines
  • forest antelope
  • pigs

No animals in Canada have been found to be naturally infected with an ebolavirus. Only infected animals pose a risk of Ebola disease.

How to prevent Ebola disease

Ebola disease is spread only through direct contact with the body fluids of an infected animal or person experiencing Ebola disease symptoms. Transmission is not known to occur through casual contact (for example, sharing a seating area on public transportation or sitting in the same waiting room), or through the air.

If you’re in a region where outbreaks of Ebola disease are occurring, or if there is a chance you may be exposed to the virus from someone who has returned from an affected area, you can reduce your risk of getting Ebola disease by strictly following the measures below.

Practice good hygiene

You’re advised to maintain good hygiene practices, including hand hygiene and cleaning and disinfecting, to reduce your risk of getting Ebola disease.

Frequently wash your hands with soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be used when soap and water aren’t available.

Avoid direct, unprotected contact with body fluids

Avoid direct contact with the body fluids and tissues of sick people, or those who have died from Ebola disease or unknown illness, including their:

• blood
• vomit
• saliva
• sweat
• urine
• feces
• semen
• breast milk
• vaginal fluid

Avoid contact with anything that may have come in contact with infected body fluids (such as linens, clothing, toilet, toiletries) or surfaces contaminated by these fluids.

Avoid high-risk areas and activities

Avoid all potential places or activities that could result in exposure. This includes homes or facilities where sick people are being cared for without optimal infection control measures in place.

Also avoid high-risk activities in Ebola disease-affected areas such as:

• unprotected direct contact with sick people
• participation in unsafe burial practices
• handling or eating animals (alive, sick or dead), including bushmeat

If high-risk areas or activities cannot be avoided, the risk of exposure to the virus can be minimized by always using appropriate precautions, such as wearing masks, gloves, gowns and goggles.

Avoid unprotected sexual activity

It’s important to avoid unprotected sexual activity with a sick person or someone who may have recovered from the Ebola disease. Ebolaviruses can persist for an extended period of time (beyond 12 months) in the semen of infected males, and transmission can occur through unprotected oral, vaginal or anal sex. It’s recommended that for at least 12 months following infection from an ebolavirus, the individual who has recovered either abstain from sexual contact, or use condoms correctly and consistently.

Follow safe burial practices

Follow safe burial practices for people who have died of Ebola disease or an unknown illness. Burial practices that involve direct, unprotected contact with the body of a person who died of Ebola disease can contribute to the spread of Ebola disease.

If participating in burial practices, always use proper personal protective equipment (masks, gowns, gloves, goggles) and maintain good personal hygiene (frequent hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based sanitizer).

Avoid contact with wild animals

Avoid contact with both live and dead wild animals (including their meat, body fluids and feces) because they could potentially be infected with an ebolavirus. Animals known to be a source of ebolaviruses, include:

• gorillas
• monkeys
• chimpanzees
• fruit bats
• porcupines
• forest antelope
• pigs

No animals in Canada have been found to be naturally infected with an ebolavirus. Only infected animals pose a risk of Ebola disease.

Vaccination

There is currently no approved vaccine in Canada to prevent Ebola disease. However, there are investigational Ebola virus vaccines used under specific circumstances for outbreak control. This vaccine is not available or recommended for travellers or other Canadians living or working in Ebola virus-affected areas who are not directly involved in outbreak control activities. This is due to the limited availability of these investigational vaccines and the fact that personal protective measures can be used to minimize the risk of exposure.

There are currently no approved vaccines available for the other viruses that can cause Ebola disease (Sudan virus, Taï Forest virus and Bundibugyo virus).

Risk of exposure to Ebola disease

In Canada, the risk of exposure to a source of Ebola disease is low. Specific occupational groups like laboratory and health care workers are at higher risk of exposure to a broad range of infectious diseases due to their work. As such, they take infection prevention and control precautions to reduce their risk of exposure.

If a case of Ebola disease were to occur in Canada, public health authorities would investigate and notify people potentially at risk of infection due to exposure to the infected individual. They would provide specific instructions to these individuals to make sure they are properly monitored and receive any medical care that may be required.

The viruses that can cause Ebola disease are naturally found in certain animals on the African continent. Some infected animals, like monkeys and gorillas, tend to become ill when infected while others, like fruit bats, may not. When people have direct contact with these animals, their body fluids or feces, they are at risk of getting infected.

An infected person may spread Ebola disease to others resulting in an outbreak. The impact of an outbreak can be limited to a specific small village or can occur over a large geographic area as was seen in the West African outbreak of Ebola disease from 2014 to 2016.

The actual risk to any one person depends on their activities in an Ebola disease-affected area and whether they take appropriate precautions to prevent infection. These precautions include wearing gloves, gowns and other personal protective equipment. Potential sources of the virus include infected people, animals, and their body fluids or the body of a person or animal who died from Ebola disease. Anything that may have come in contact with infected body fluids (such as linens, clothing, toilet, toiletries) or surfaces contaminated by these fluids, are also potential sources of the virus.

People in an Ebola disease-affected area who are at low risk of exposure include those with protected or only casual contact during all encounters with potential sources of the virus. Those who are at high risk of exposure include those with an unprotected, close contact during any encounter with a potential source of the virus.

Health professionals and humanitarian aid workers

Health professionals and humanitarian aid workers in Ebola disease-affected areas use enhanced precautions and receive training to minimize their risk of exposure. For more information, or if you are a health professional or humanitarian aid worker, consult the section for health professionals and humanitarian aid workers for in-depth information about prevention measures in a health care or field setting.