Health workers face the Ebola threat

Ebola is a terrifying disease as it typically kills 90 per cent of the people who get it, and this most recent outbreak in West Africa, in which nearly 700 people have died, is the largest and worst in history.

However, experts say that while the virus is aggressively infectious, so that people who are infected are highly likely to get sick, it is not highly contagious.

The Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with the blood, secretions or other body fluids of sick people, and indirect contact — for example, with needles and other things that may be contaminated with these fluids.

This particular outbreak has worried many health officials especially because the disease is killing those working to treat patients. The disease killed one of Liberia's top doctors and infected two Americans combating the outbreak there.

And a Sierra Leone doctor who treated more than 100 patients has died from the virus. Sheik Umar Khan has been hailed as a "national hero" for his work treating Ebola. The virologist was infected in July and treated at a facility run by the international charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.

"I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life," Khan told Reuters in a June interview about his work fighting the deadly outbreak of the disease in his country.

He added: "Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing, you are at risk."

Before Khan's death, three nurses working at his treatment centre also died of the disease. Assuming the health workers were wearing protective gear throughout, this then poses many questions as to the mode of transmission. Are their family members safe?