Virus
Ebola virus
Filamentous filovirus, bat reservoir, VHF
ee-BOH-luh VY-rus
High-yield clue
Long, thread-like (filamentous) filovirus; fruit bats are the presumed reservoir and person-to-person spread is via direct contact with body fluids.
Overview
A negative-sense single-stranded RNA filovirus (genus Orthoebolavirus) with a distinctive filamentous shape, studied as a classic cause of viral hemorrhagic fever with a fruit-bat reservoir.
Classification
- Filoviridae
- Genus Orthoebolavirus
- Negative-sense ssRNA
- Enveloped
- Filamentous virion
Lab & identification clues
- Filamentous filovirus morphology vocabulary
- Viral hemorrhagic fever framing
- Body-fluid contact transmission concept
Associations
- Fruit bats as presumed reservoir host
- Human-to-human spread via direct body-fluid contact
- Viral hemorrhagic fever presentation vocabulary
- Central and West African outbreak epidemiology
Commonly confused with
- Marburg virus
- Lassa virus
Your notes
Original student-study summary. Sources checked: OpenStax Microbiology 2e, NCBI Bookshelf Medical Microbiology, and CDC topic pages where applicable; reviewed 2026-06. Educational only; no diagnosis, treatment, dosing, or specimen-handling guidance.