Deadly Ebola outbreak in Africa

New, Deadly Virus Related to Ebola ID'ed in Snakes
A deadly and newly identified virus glows green in a fluorescent-stained image of an infected boa constrictor kidney. (Mark Stenglein.)

The latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus has killed 10 people in the Congo, and 16 previously reported deaths in Uganda, according to the World Health Organization. The virus causes internal and external bleeding and spreads by direct contact with the blood or other body fluids of infected persons. The rare haemorrhagic disease, named after a small river in DR Congo, killed 37 people in western Uganda in 2007 and at least 170 in the north of the country in 2000.