The origin has been traced to a two-year-old child from the village of Gueckedou in south-eastern Guinea, an area where batmeat is frequently hunted and eaten. The infant, dubbed Child Zero, died on 6 December 2013. The child’s family stated they had hunted two species of bat which carry the Ebola virus. When an infection does occur in humans, the virus can be spread in several ways to others.
Ebola is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth) with blood or body fluids (including but not limited to urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola objects (like needles and syringes) that have been contaminated with the virus infected animals.
Ebola is not spread through the air or by water, or in general, by food. However, in Africa, Ebola may be spread as a result of handling bushmeat (wild animals hunted for food) and contact with infected bats. There is no evidence that mosquitos or other insects can transmit Ebola virus. Only mammals (for example, humans, bats, monkeys, and apes) have shown the ability to become infected with and spread Ebola virus.
Researchers from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba identified a number of antibodies that corresponded to proteins on the shell of the Ebola virus. They combined the antibodies into a specific cocktail and administered it to four macaques within 24 hours of infection. All four macaques survived. When the cocktail was administered within 48 hours of infection, two of four macaques survived.