ABSTRACT
Ebola viruses (EBOV) belong to the family Filoviridae of the order Mononegavirales. Filoviruses are enveloped, nonsegmented, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses [1]. The family name is derived from the morphology of the virus, which is characterized by a thin and elongated shape (lo, Latin for “lament”). EBOV was named after the Ebola River in Zaire, where the rst recognized outbreak occurred. Five species of EBOV have been dened to date on the basis of genetic divergence: Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV), Sudan ebolavirus (SEBOV), Ivory Coast ebolavirus (CIEBOV: also known as Cote d’Ivoire ebolavirus), Reston ebolavirus (REBOV), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BEBOV). ZEBOV, SEBOV, CIEBOV, and BEBOV cause clinical symptoms in humans and nonhuman primates, while REBOV causes disease only in nonhuman primates, but not in humans.
