WHO describes Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever (EHF) as "one of the most virulent viral diseases known to man". The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies Ebola virus as a category A bioterrorism agent. If the theoretically possible (but enormously difficult) task of aerosolising the virus were to be achieved, it would be a fearsome weapon. Then again, the Ebola virus cannot easily survive outside the body-it is quickly killed by sunlight-and the rapid progression to death among those infected restricts its ability to cause mass destruction.
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