Ebola Transmission Becoming Airborne, Researchers Claim

By Arvin Donguines, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, October 16, 2014

Ebola now has the potential to be transmitted through air, a breaking report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy or CIDRAP at the University of Minnesota stated.

UM-CIDRAP are now advising the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) about their "scientific and epidemiologic evidence" showing the high probability of the virus being transmitted via "exhaled breath and infectious aerosol particles."

"Healthcare workers play a very important role in the successful containment of outbreaks of infectious diseases like Ebola. The correct type and level of personal protective equipment (PPE) ensures that healthcare workers remain healthy throughout an outbreak—and with the current rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak in West Africa, it's imperative to favor more conservative measures," the report reds.

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

Subscribe

According to UM-CIDRAP, CDC's working theory about the mode of ebola transmission is already "incorrect and outmoded."

"Virus-laden bodily fluids may be aerosolized and inhaled while a person is in proximity to an infectious person and that a wide range of particle sizes can be inhaled and deposited throughout the respiratory tract," the CIDRAP researchers added.

A similar report from CBS DFW quoted executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

"What we're suggesting is that it is very dangerous to assume that one cannot ever acquire Ebola from an aerosol or from breathing," said Dr. Jane Orient.

Orient pointed out the cases of two healthcare workers at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas that have been infected despite them following the standard protocol.

"Dr. Orient says that when an aerosol dries up, droplet nuclei remain suspended in the air for a long time. A recent research study suggests that Ebola could remain infectious in an aerosol for more than an hour," CBS reported.

The said findings by Dr. Orient, as well with the aforementioned theory from UM-CIDRAP, may contradict with the CDC's statement as well as that of President Barack Obama.

President Obama recently spoke through a video message sent to West Africa saying that, "ebola is not spread through the air like the flu. You cannot get it from casual contact like sitting next to someone on a bus."