Ebola Disease

Symptoms

Symptoms of Ebola may include:

• Fever
• Headache
• Feeling tired
• Muscle pain and weakness
• Sore throat

Later symptoms may include:

• Rash
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Hemorrhaging (bleeding)

Symptoms can begin 2 to 21 days after exposure (on average 8 to 10 days) and usually start with the sudden onset of fever followed by other symptoms.

What to Do If You Think You Have Ebola

Before you visit a doctor or a hospital, isolate and call Toronto Public Health immediately.

Toronto residents should call 416-338-7600, Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or call 311 after hours and ask to speak to the Communicable Disease Manager. Let health care workers know of your potential exposure to Ebola before seeking health care.

Toronto Public Health will make arrangements for your medical assessment.

Describe your symptoms over the phone, where you have been travelling and mention any possible exposure to Ebola.

If you think you have Ebola, it is important that you isolate immediately:

• Separate yourself from those around you and do not have physical contact with people, pets or animals.
• Do not take public transportation, taxi or ride share.
• Ensure that others do not come into contact with your body fluids (including blood, urine, feces, vomit, saliva, sweat, breast milk and semen) or anything that may have come in contact with your body fluids (e.g. linens, clothing, toilet, toiletries).
• Wash your hands frequently, especially after vomiting or using the toilet.

How Ebola is Spread & How to Protect Yourself

The risk of exposure to Ebola is low in Canada.

Ebola spreads between people through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of someone who is sick or has died from the disease, as well as through contaminated objects such as bedding or clothing. Ebola can also be carried by animals and can spread to humans through contact with infected animals or their body fluids. No animals in Canada have been found to be naturally infected with an Ebola virus.

Transmission is not known to occur through the air.

The virus is spread through direct contact with:

• The blood, body fluids (urine, saliva, feces, vomit, semen, breast milk) or tissues of a sick person or someone who has died from Ebola.
  • Avoid: Ebola affected areas and direct contact with body fluids and tissues of people who are sick or died from Ebola and participation in burial practices of someone who died from the virus.
  • Avoid: Unprotected sexual activity with a sick person or someone who has recovered from Ebola.
  • During pregnancy, delivery and/or breastfeeding, an infected person can transmit the disease to their baby. Consult your healthcare provider for medical advice.
• Objects contaminated with the virus such as needles, surfaces, bedding, and medical equipment.
  • Avoid: Activities such as unprotected contact with items that may have come in contact with infected body fluids (clothing, bedding, linens, surfaces, toiletries, etc.).
• Close contact with infected animals or their body fluids, such as handling and/or eating infected animals (alive or dead).
  • Avoid: Handling or eating animals including bushmeat in Ebola affected areas.

Learn more on how to prevent the spread of Ebola.

Diagnosis & Treatment

Ebola disease is confirmed through laboratory testing. Your doctor may suspect you have Ebola based on your travel and exposure history and symptoms.

Laboratory testing is necessary to diagnose Ebola disease.

Treatment

Patients with Ebola can be given oxygen, intravenous fluids and other drugs to help manage their symptoms. It is important to see a health care provider as soon as you start getting symptoms. Before seeing a health care provider, contact Toronto Public Health at 416-338-7600 (Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or 311 after hours) to make arrangements for your medical assessment.