摘要Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a life-threatening viral disease with a fatality rate ranging from around 30%to 90%. The first EVD outbreak was reported in the 1970s in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Until 2013, most outbreaks occurred in the Central Africa region, including Zaire, Sudan and Uganda. However, between March and October 2014, over 10 000 cases of EVD have been recorded in West Africa, such as in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, and a few hospital or secondary infections of EVD have occurred in Spain and the United States of America. EVD is presently one of the world's most feared diseases. In this literature review, we describe the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of EVD.