The Ebola virus belongs to a family of viruses termed Filoviridae. Filovirus particles form long sometimes branched filaments of varying shapes, as well as shorter filaments , and may measure up to 14,000 nanometers in length with diameter of 80 nanometers.
Viral particles contain one molecule of single stranded RNA enveloped in a lipid membrane. New viral particle bud from the surface of their host cell. Although Ebola virus was only discovered in 1976, it is an ancient virus and is thought to have split from other viruses thousands of years ago.
