The US admits Ebola can spread in the air

Experts are increasingly concerned that the Ebola virus can spread through droplets suspended in the air. This will help explain the unprecedented increase in Ebola cases in 2014.

>>>Discuss the infection through the air of Ebola virus

Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Tom Frieden has admitted that the Ebola virus can spread in the air.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota (USA) also shared this view. Mr. Osterholm expressed: "This is the biggest personal concern of my 40 years as a community health care professional. In my career, I cannot imagine something, including HIV, possible. the ability to destroy the world more than the infectious Ebola virus ".

Although we may not have heard in the mass media yet, less than 2 months ago, CDC updated their assessment criteria for Ebola infection, increasing the condition "in the same place." micro 0.9 meters " or " in the same room " with someone infected with the virus.

The CDC website states: "Low-risk exposure to Ebola includes any of the following: family members or other common contacts with patients with pathogens; caregivers Patients or regular contacts do not have high-risk exposure to Ebola patients in health care settings in countries affected by outbreaks.

In particular, the usual exposure is defined as a) within approximately 0.9 meters or in the same room or place of care for a long time, without the proposed personal protective equipment or b) direct, brief contact (such as shaking hands) with a person infected with Ebola while not using the proposed personal protective equipment ".

A study conducted in 2012 showed that Ebola virus can move back and forth between pigs and monkeys, which are confined in separate stables and never placed in direct contact.

In an interview with the BBC news agency two years ago, Dr. Gary Kobinger from the National Microbiological Laboratory of the Canadian Public Health Administration believes that Ebola has spread through suspended droplets. air. This expert explained, what he and his colleagues suspect, is that Ebola is contagious through large droplets, which can condense in the air, but not for long and cannot teleport.

However, droplets containing Ebola virus can be absorbed into the person's airway, starting to cause infection. Researchers have obtained much evidence that the dangerous pathogen infects this way in the lungs of non-human primates.

The Ebola virus that is raging in West Africa is not currently Ebola Zaire, but a new strain. According to CDC, this strain is genetically similar to Ebola Zaire, about 97%. This is the reason why Dr. Gil Mobley, an American epidemiologist, said, CDC is "suppressing" the level of Ebola threat to the United States.

However, a new documentary revealed, CDC is very concerned about Ebola's airborne contagion. Airline personnel were asked to provide surgical masks for anyone suspected of being infected with the virus to "minimize the amount of droplets shot into the air through conversation, coughing or sneezing."

Many experts are skeptical about Ebola's infectious ability and ask, "How did the Spanish nurse become the first person in the world to be infected with Ebola outside Africa?" . The European Commission has actually asked Spain to explain how this health care worker is infected, if the virus does not spread in the air.

Experts also want to clarify how a cameraman of the NBC news agency, who wears full body protective clothing, has been infected with Ebola. Answering such basic questions is considered extremely necessary in the context that the US and other countries are not necessarily excluded from the risk of Ebola outbreaks in their own lands.