It didn't take long. With the outbreak of a global health crisis on the scale of the current Ebola epidemic, there was bound to be a flurry of conspiracy theories.

And the internet's finest have been hard at work.

From the prospect of the Ebola-based zombie horror film 28 Days Later becoming reality to the US government deliberately releasing the virus, there's plenty out there for the tin foil hat brigade to sink their teeth into.

Scroll down for video

Hoax: This picture, which went viral last week,; turned out to be nothing more than a screen grab from the zombie film World War Z, starring Brad Pitt

Last week a picture purporting to be that of the first Ebola 'Zombie' went viral over the internet with the title 'Ebola victim back from the dead'.

A caption reads: 'For the first time in human history, confirmed footage is captured of a man who scientists watched die from Ebola then only several hours later, regain life and rise from the dead'.

It then cites Bible passage Isaiah 26:19-20: 'Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise.'

The picture was later revealed to be nothing more than a screenshot of an actor in the movie World War Z starring Brad Pitt.

The zombie hoax appears to have been inspired by several real-life reports of Ebola victims coming back from the dead.

One story which appeared on the TheNewDawnLiberia.com website recently told of two Ebola patients who died of the virus in separate communities coming back to life two days later.

One conspiracy theory, which claims the current Ebola strain is hybrid of Ebola and Rabies, has drawn several comparisons with the 2002 Danny Boyle film 28 Days Later

Conspiracy? Many believe that the Ebola virus was created in a laboratory by unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies hoping to profit from the sale of vaccines

The website reported: 'The late Dorris Quoi of Hope Village Community and the second victim only identified as Ma Kebeh, said to be in her late 60s, were about to be taken for burial when they resurrected.

'Ma Kebeh had reportedly been in door for two nights without food and medication before her alleged death.'

Another story from Liberia last week tells of a man thought to have died from Ebola in the middle of a street who started waving his arms when funeral workers arrived to pick up his body.

That has led some to suggest that the virus is man-made and has been designed either as a weapon or simply so pharmaceutical companies can profit from selling vaccines and cures.

Some users insist the current Ebola strain is hybrid of Ebola and Rabies, drawing comparisons with the film 28 Days Later and raising the unlikely prospect that the film's plot may become reality.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan claims Ebola is a 'race-targeting bioweapon created by white people'

In the 2002 film directed by Danny Boyle, a highly contagious virus known as the Rage virus is released after animal liberation activists break into a laboratory where tests are being conducted on chimpanzees.

Scientists in the movie were attempting to create an anger management drug and had decided to use the Ebola virus as a delivery system.

But Ebola mutates the drug, causing it to have the oppposite effect and send people into fits of constant, uncontrollable rage with physical symptoms resembling rabies - leading them to attack other humans and pass on the virus at a rapidly increasing rate until only a small minority have escaped infection.

Exponents of this theory point to research conducted in 2012 by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) which developed an Ebola vaccine based on the established rabies virus vaccine.

The scientists first tested the vaccine on mice before moving on to monkeys and claim the research was extremely successful.

Speculation has been further fuelled by a 2012 report of a rabies-like virus that has all the symptoms of and lethality of Ebola and which killed two teenagers in Congo in 2009.

Believers of this theory warn people not to take the vaccine which will soon be rolled out.

In the US, Firebrand Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan claims the Ebola virus is a 'race-targeting bioweapon created by white people'.

He says the US government 'has a desire for world depopulation' and is intent on going about it by using bioweapons 'such as Ebola and AIDS, which are race targeting weapons.'

He wrote: 'There is a weapon that can be put in a room where there are Black and White people, and it will kill only the Black and spare the White, because it is a genotype weapon that is designed for your genes, for your race, for your kind.

'This means that these wise scientists of death are making pathogens, which is something that can cause a disease.

'They are creating this as a means of depopulating our planet of undesirables, a process called culling the population. … So, if you are poor and ignorant; if you are Black or Brown, you are being selected for destruction.'

History: The Ebola virus as discovered in 1976 following major outbreaks that year in the Sudan and Zaire

Health workers say the fight against the outbreak is being hindered by claims of miracle cures such as rubbing limes and onions over your body and by unscrupulous merchants selling bogus treatments.

The World Health Organisation has issued several warnings over bogus cures and precautionary measures.

SKY CRITICISED FOR UPLOADING 28 DAYS LATER FOR PAY PER VIEW A scene from Zombie horror film 28 Days Later Twitter users have slammed Sky Movies, accusing the broadcaster of uploading the Ebola-related zombie film 28 Days Later to its on-demand movie service as concerns over the outbreak grow. Twitter user Mitchell wrote today: 'World's going Ebola mad and Sky decides to show World War Z and 28 days later and 28 weeks later in the last 2 days..bad timing or what...' And user 'luna' ‏wrote: 'sky movies have decided to upload 28 days later while the ebola virus is breaking out, thanks for terrifying me'. The film features in the 'recently added' section of the Sky Movies 'On Demand' service. The channel did not respond to requests for a comment. Advertisement

In Liberia healers have suggested rubbing the body with limes and onions can combat the virus while across the region merchants are profiting from the panic by selling fake Ebola vaccinations and cures.

One rumour that has been widely circulated is that drinking saltwater can prevent or cure the disease, an entirely false claim that is believed to be responsible for the deaths of four people.

A spokesman for WHO said: 'Another source of public misunderstanding, especially in affected areas, comes from rumours on social media claiming that certain products or practices can prevent or cure Ebola virus disease.

'Decades of scientific research have failed to find a curative or preventive agent of proven safety and effectiveness in humans, though a number of promising products are currently under development.

'All rumours of any other effective products or practices are false. Their use can be dangerous. In Nigeria, for example, at least two people have died after drinking salt water, rumoured to be protective.'

Ebola was discovered in 1976 following major outbreaks that year in the Sudan and Zaire. In the 1990s, the disease saw a resurgence with an outbreak in Gabon in 1994, followed by another in Zaire in 1995.

The current outbreak, the worst in recorded history, began last December and has killed more than 3,800 people mainly in West Africa and is threatening to spread across Europe and the Americas.

Between 2000-2004, close to 500 people died from Ebola in Uganda, Gabon, the Republic of Congo and Sudan.

The vast majority of those deaths have been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.