Ebola virus (EBOV) causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever. The name Ebola virus is derived from the Ebola River (a river that was at first thought to be in close proximity to the area in Zaire where the first recorded Ebola virus disease outbreak occurred) and the taxonomic suffix virus. Zaire Ebolavirus is a virological taxon included in the genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales. The family Filoviridae (members are called Filovirus or filovirids; filum is derived from Latin meaning filamentous) is a group of several related viruses that form filamentous infectious viral particles (virions) and encode their genome in the form of single stranded negative sense RNA. The family currently includes the three virus genera Cuevavirus, Ebolavirus, and Marburgvirus. The two members of the family that are commonly known are Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Both viruses, and some of their lesser known relatives, cause severe disease in humans and nonhuman primates (NHP) in the form of viral hemorrhagic fevers. All Ebola viruses and Marburg viruses are Select Agents Group 4 Pathogens. Filoviruses have a history that dates back several tens of millions of years. The most recent common ancestor of both the Reston and Zaire species has been estimated to be ~1960. The most recent common ancestor of the Marburg and Sudan species appears to have evolved 700 and 850 years before present respectively. The family Filoviridae represents significant health risks as emerging infectious diseases as well as potentially engineered biothreats. Ebolavirus species Zaire (ZEBOV) causes a highly lethal hemorrhagic fever, resulting in the death of 90% of patients within days. Ebola Zaire attacks every organ and tissue in the human body except skeletal muscle and bone. Ebola is classified as a Level 4 pathogen (higher than AIDS) with a 2 to 21 day (7 to 14 days average) incubation period. There are currently four known strains of Ebola: Zaire, Sudan, Reston and Tai. All of them cause illness in sub-human primates. Only Ebola Reston does not cause illness in humans. The mortality rate of Ebola victims is between 60% and 90%; with Ebola Sudan at 60% and Ebola Zaire at 90%. Ebola virus disease (EVD) is clinically indistinguishable from Marburg virus disease (MVD) and can be easily be confused with many other diseases prevalent in Equatorial Africa, such as other viral hemorrhagic fevers, falciparum malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, and rickettsial diseases such as typhus, cholera, gram negative septicemia, borreliosis such as relapsing fever or EHEC enteritis. The most common diagnostic methods are therefore RT PCR in conjunction with antigen capture ELISA which can be performed in the field or mobile hospitals and laboratories. The current 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak is caused by Zaire ebolavirus species.