How you can get Ebola

You can get the virus if you have “direct contact” with a range of bodily fluids from a sick person, including blood, saliva, breast milk, stool, sweat, semen, tears, vomit, and urine. “Direct contact” means these fluids need to get into your broken skin (such as a wound) or touch your mucous membranes (mouth, nose, eyes, vagina). As well, the sick person has to be far enough along in the illness — with enough virus in the bloodstream — to successfully transmit the disease.