# Where does Ebola come from?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-ebola-come-from/247315>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 27, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-ebola-come-from/247315 "2004-05-27T11:42:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-ebola-come-from/247315/21 "2004-05-28T11:31:33Z")

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> [@kidchameleon](#):
>
> :rolleyes:  
> I’m surrounded by mircobiologists who don’t think I know the difference between a bacteria and a virus all day…it just never ends…

And how does this relate to my post?

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**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-ebola-come-from/247315/22 "2004-05-28T15:05:47Z")

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**Smeghead** , I used Malaria, because of the nice picture in the link. In fact, the common cold, and Herpes are not good examples of what I was speaking about, although they are indeed viral.

Herpes, does not use a vector, as it simply lies dormant in the host. The common cold is not spread or carried by vector either. Much like Herpes, it pretty much just hangs around in small human populations, waiting to spread.

We have to assume that Ebola has an primary/intermediate host, because unlike the two viral diseases you’ve mentioned, there is no constant pool of infected humans. It may be spread by vector, or like Hanta virus it may be spread by the droppings of its primary host. It is certain that Humans are not a primary host.

So if you insist on a viral disease (without a nice picture, mind you) you can think; Yellow Fever. However, since most folks aren’t familiar with Yellow fever, you can kind of think West Nile, although that has an avian host as well as a human one. So I still think if you have a _really_ good imagination, and squint _really_ hard, you can imagine that _Plasmodium_ spp. is virus instead of a bacterium, and you can get a good idea of how a successful arboviral disease works.

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-ebola-come-from/247315/23 "2004-05-28T22:18:54Z")

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I thought the point you were attempting to make was that viruses that don’t kill their hosts are more successful, which is why I chose those two. But whatever, we’re all right. Just concentrating on different points.

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