Ebola virus disease (EVD) remains one of the most lethal infectious diseases known to medicine, with an average case fatality rate (CFR) of approximately 50% and historical outbreak CFRs ranging from 25% to 90%, depending on virus species and health care context. Caused exclusively by Ebola virus (Orthoebolavirus zairense) within the family Filoviridae, EVD has been recognized since its first identification in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, with at least 34 outbreaks documented since then and evidence of increasing frequency after 1994. Meta-analyses of global outbreak data report pooled CFRs of approximately 60–65%, with Zaire ebolavirus consistently associated with the highest fatality among the species that infect humans. Ebola virus disease is transmitted through close, direct physical contact with the blood, body fluids, or contaminated materials of symptomatic individuals or deceased persons; it is not an airborne infection. This fundamental distinction in transmission mode explains why EVD does not spread like COVID-19. While SARS-CoV-2 propagates via respiratory aerosols across distances in everyday settings, Ebola is constrained to contact-based routes, resulting in more limited but concentrated outbreak dynamics, with estimated basic reproduction numbers of 1.5–2.5 during the 2014 West Africa epidemic. Critically, EVD is not infectious before symptom onset, enabling a response architecture centered on rapid case identification, isolation, rigorous infection prevention and control, safe burial practices, and intensive contact tracing. Significant therapeutic advances have strengthened outbreak response. Two WHO-prequalified vaccines–Ervebo and the Zabdeno/Mvabea regimen—and two strongly recommended monoclonal antibody treatments, mAb114 (Ansuvimab) and REGN-EB3 (Inmazeb), are now available for EBOV outbreaks. Preparedness planning must account for recurrent zoonotic spillover risk, survivor persistence of virus in immune-privileged sites, and ongoing gaps in diagnostic and response capacity in endemic regions.