Corroborating its position with convincing scientific evidence, WHO now officially recognizes that, in some cases, Ebola can transmit from person to person via the respiratory system. Depending on the stage of infection and how it is manifesting symptom-wise, Ebola is capable of traveling through the air and infecting other people.
"Theoretically, wet and bigger droplets from a heavily infected individual, who has respiratory symptoms caused by other conditions or who vomits violently, could transmit the virus -- over a short distance -- to another nearby person," explained the UN agency.
"This could happen when virus-laden heavy droplets are directly propelled, by coughing or sneezing (which does not mean airborne transmission) onto the mucus membranes or skin with cuts or abrasions of another person."
Saliva and tears can also spread Ebola, says WHO
Ebola can even spread through tears and saliva, admitted the agency. Though the likelihood of this is supposedly minimal, patients in the later stages of illness progression have been shown in some studies to carry and spread the virus through these routes, though not necessarily through sweat."In studies of saliva, the virus was found most frequently in patients at a severe stage of illness," explains a WHO situation assessment issued on October 6. "The whole live virus has never been isolated from sweat."
Indirect Ebola transmission is also mentioned in the WHO announcement, which warns against touching surfaces that may have become contaminated with the virus. Appropriate cleaning and disinfection protocols should always be the first line of defense in these situations, even though the risk of transmission from contaminated surfaces is believed to be low.
Former CDC doctor agrees: Ebola can go airborne
The atypical spread pattern of Ebola during this current outbreak suggests that the virus already defies what health officials claim are undeniable facts. Dr. C.J. Peters, who helped the CDC study Ebola transmissibility in humans following the great Virginia monkey outbreak of 1989, says nothing can be ruled out at this point."We just don't have the data to exclude it," he stated, referring to Ebola's potential to spread through the air.
A virologist with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (AMRDC) is also quoted as telling the Los Angeles Times that what we think we know about Ebola may not actually reflect reality. Without a definitive and precise understanding of how Ebola mutates and spreads, all bets are off.
"Being dogmatic is, I think, ill-advised, because there are too many unknowns," stated Dr. Philip K. Russell, who at one point helped put together a government stockpile of smallpox vaccines after 9/11.
"I see the reasons to dampen down public fears," he added. "But scientifically, we're in the middle of the first experiment of multiple, serial passages of Ebola virus in man.... God knows what this virus is going to look like. I don't."
WHO's official position on how Ebola can spread is available here:
WHO.int.
Learn all these details and more at the FREE online Pandemic Preparedness course at www.BioDefense.com
Sources:
http://www.wnd.com
http://www.who.int
http://www.latimes.com
http://science.naturalnews.com
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